Bell jet ranger pilot loses spatial awareness and has hard impact with a frozen lake.

Attributes
ACN	685063
Time
Date	200601
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : hom.airport
State Reference	AK
Altitude	agl single value : 100
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tower : zzz.tower
Operator	general aviation : personal
Make Model Name	Jet Ranger Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Affiliation	other
Function	flight crew : single pilot
Qualification	pilot : atp pilot : commercial
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 150 flight time total : 5800 flight time type : 290
ASRS Report	685063
Events
Anomaly	conflict : ground critical other anomaly other spatial deviation
Independent Detector	other flight crewb
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Consequence	other
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Flight Crew Human Performance Environmental Factor
Primary Problem	Flight Crew Human Performance

Narrative:

Encountered flat light conditions over a frozen lake under overcast sky. Turned away from tree line of lake. Went from 50-100 ft AGL to hitting lake surface with no knowledge until impact. Landed level; but hard. Ship stayed upright. Made inspection and also had maintenance come and inspect. No damage beyond skids noted. Flew ship back to base. Problem caused by loss of reference (no trees) when turned over lake. Damage to skids is not rptable as accident/incident; but this could easily have been a fatal accident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BELL JET RANGER PLT LOSES SPATIAL AWARENESS AND HAS HARD IMPACT WITH A FROZEN LAKE.

Narrative: ENCOUNTERED FLAT LIGHT CONDITIONS OVER A FROZEN LAKE UNDER OVCST SKY. TURNED AWAY FROM TREE LINE OF LAKE. WENT FROM 50-100 FT AGL TO HITTING LAKE SURFACE WITH NO KNOWLEDGE UNTIL IMPACT. LANDED LEVEL; BUT HARD. SHIP STAYED UPRIGHT. MADE INSPECTION AND ALSO HAD MAINT COME AND INSPECT. NO DAMAGE BEYOND SKIDS NOTED. FLEW SHIP BACK TO BASE. PROB CAUSED BY LOSS OF REF (NO TREES) WHEN TURNED OVER LAKE. DAMAGE TO SKIDS IS NOT RPTABLE AS ACCIDENT/INCIDENT; BUT THIS COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN A FATAL ACCIDENT.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of January 2009 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.