Another safe water landing?

[Flightjock30]

I am beginning to think....As long as you land at the right speed and angle water crash landings seem survivable! Not a bad idea if you lose an engine on takeoff or at altitude...ditch in a river or as close to the shoreline as possible......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7874423.stm

Always have a life vest and flares handy...better yet a life raft if you can afford it!

 

[avbug]

A ditching isn't the best option. However, both the hudson even and the one you've referenced had a common thread; neither of them had any choice. Think about it.

 

[Flightjock30]

I disagree!
I think the guys getting killed during engine failures are attempting to land in places that they have no business landing in in the first place.....For example, you are over a densely populated area and experience an engine failure. You spot a small field and attempt to land on it, but overshoot and get killed.
Lets say a river was nearby..You could of ditched as close to the edge of the river as possible instead and survived as long as you can swim, have a lifevest, or if there is a boat closeby.
A young pilot was killed a few years back when he experience an engine failure over Lake Michigan during the winter at night. He made a poor decision to cross that body of water at night in a single to begin with, he could have flew over land along the south shoreline instead. However....he survived the impact of the landing..the hypothermia is what killed him.
Water landings are the way to go IF there is a decent body of water nearby and IF you are not over a rural area with smooth terrain.

 

[avbug]

Have you ever attempted to make a water landing?

 

[Flightjock30]

Yes, in seaplanes!

I would ditch my plane in the water along the coastline in the following picture, instead of trying to find something over this populated area for example:

http://www.johnnyjet.com/image/PicForNewsletterNantucketJuly200712.JPG

 

[avbug]

Have you ever had a forced landing? Not an instructor pulling your power back over a runway, but a genuine, honest-to-God catastrauphic engine failure or onboard fire, forced landing?

 

[Say Again Over]

Have you ever had a forced landing? Not an instructor pulling your power back over a runway, but a genuine, honest-to-God catastrauphic engine failure or onboard fire, forced landing?

Oh no, here we go again, please tell us how you saved the day.

 

[avbug]

That's rather irrelevant.

It's one thing to say "I would do this or that" from a position of no experience with the subject...it's another view from the other side of the coin.

Putting an airplane in the water presents a multitude of hazards and greatly complicates survival and rescue in most cases. It can be considered an option when there are none better, but only under such circumstances.

 

[414Flyer]

When I did air tours around the Big Island of Hawai'i, there were lots of places around there that if I had lost power, first thing I would have done was head for the water. I would have taken my chances landing just offshore, rather than a basalt lava rock field.

I had two friends I worked with who have since ditched out there. One in a Skymaster, one in a Chieftain. There was one passenger fatality in the Chieftain ditching, from a passenger who decided to inflate the life vest before getting clear of the airplane.

 

[Flightjock30]

When I did air tours around the Big Island of Hawai'i, there were lots of places around there that if I had lost power, first thing I would have done was head for the water. I would have taken my chances landing just offshore, rather than a basalt lava rock field.

I had two friends I worked with who have since ditched out there. One in a Skymaster, one in a Chieftain. There was one passenger fatality in the Chieftain ditching, from a passenger who decided to inflate the life vest before getting clear of the airplane.

Exactly my point Avbug...Real world examples! You can survive water landings with the wings level, at a proper approach speed. The real threat is surviving afterwards..but with a life vest you can do it..of course if there are sharks or gators/crocs in the water then you may not survive, all depends where it is. OR if you sustain hypothermia.

If you are towing banners lets say and experience an engine failure...you'd be MUCH better off landing 300-600 yards from the beach in the shallow water.