It sounds like he's lucky the damage wasn't worse. Like I've stated before, I don't get this fascination with landing on sandbars along a river's edge. Not me in my airplane. My question is how your insurance carrier would like paying on the claim? To each their own. My .02 worth.
Looks expensive. I think ‘tundra tires’ may of helped, possibly. At least the pilot was O.K., back to the maintenance shop.
Man, I fly over those two crash sites fairly often. But here’s your alternative @SkyDog58 https://www.gravelbarmt.com/
Not as big a deal as most guys would imagine. Even with big tires on soft sand and gravel a guy needs to be very light on the brakes. A little too aggressive and the mains will sink and the tail will come over the top very quickly. In many cases flipping it back upright will do more damage than the event. If they're careful that plane can be repaired, no problem.
I don't get the fascination of landing on airport runways..... I used to land on beaches, river banks and off airport for a living. But the plane was well equipped for that. If yours is not equipped for off airport landing then yes, I agree that it would be a good idea to stay with pavement.
When taking off and landing on frozen lakes or rivers, always check the thickness of the ice first.... Not a good way to check the ice as it might be hard to open the doors.... Always ask a friend to check the ice....