Water landing

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A Mute Swan performs a water landing

Water landing is, in the broadest sense, landing on a body of water. All waterfowl, those seabirds capable of flight, and some human-built vehicles are capable of landing in water as a matter of course.

The phrase "water landing" is also used as a euphemism for crash-landing into water in an aircraft not designed for the purpose. An intentional water landing during distress, but under controlled flight, is called ditching. Such water landings are somewhat common for small craft in general aviation and the military, but they are extremely rare for commercial passenger airlines.

Contents

1 By design
2 In distress

2.1 General aviation
2.2 Commercial aircraft
2.3 Crashing

3 In fiction
4 References
5 Further reading

By design

A PBY Catalina flying boat landing

Seaplanes, flying boats, and amphibious aircraft are designed to take off and land on water. Landing can be supported by a hull-shaped fuselage and/or pontoons. The availability of a long effective runway was historically important on lifting size restrictions on aircraft, and their freedom from constructed strips remains useful for transportation to lakes and other remote areas. The ability to loiter on water is also important for marine rescue operations and fire fighting. One disadvantage of water landing is that it is dangerous in the presence of waves. Furthermore, the necessary equipment compromises the craft's aerodynamic efficiency and speed.

Apollo 15 capsule descends under two of three parachutes

Early manned spacecraft launched by the United States were designed to land in water by the splashdown method. The craft would parachute into the water, which acted as a cushion to bring the craft to a stop; the impacts were violent but survivable. Landing over water rather than land made braking rockets unnecessary, but its disadvantages included difficult retrieval and the danger of drowning. The modern Space Shuttle lands on a runway instead.

In distress

Although extremely uncommon in commercial passenger travel, small aircraft ditchings are common occurences. According to the United States Coast Guard, including helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, between military, air carrier, corporate, and general aviation, there is one ditching every day in U.S. waters alone.

General aviation

General aviation includes all fields of aviation outside of commercial aviation. This classification includes small aircraft (e.g., training aircraft, Cessna 172), airships, gliders, helicopters, and corporate aircraft (including business jets and other for-hire operations). This class of aircraft has the highest accident and incident rate in aviation. However, even though this is statistically the most dangerous form of aviation, it is still far safer than most other forms of transportation. In 2003, for example, there were only 136 fatalities resulting from general aviation accidents.

Commercial aircraft

Ethiopian 961 breaks up in the water

Commercial airliners almost never make water landings. The FAA does not require commercial pilots to train to ditch, regulating instead the distance a plane can stray from an airfield. Nonetheless, airlines regularly give safety briefings including the infamous:

"In the event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a floatation device."

These warnings have provoked a great deal of skepticism towards their usefulness and necessity. For example, Ralph Nader's Aviation Consumer Action Project has been quoted as claiming that a wide body jet would “shatter like a raw egg dropped on pavement, killing most if not all passengers on impact, even in calm seas with well-trained pilots and good landing trajectories." In December 2002, The Economist quoted an expert as claiming that "No large airliner has ever made an emergency landing on water" in an article that goes on to charge, "So the life jackets ... have little purpose other than to make passengers feel better." In June 2006, economist Steven Levitt claimed, "At least going back to 1970, which by my estimation encompasses over 150 million commercial airline flights, there has not been a single water landing!"

And yet, there have been water landings in which passengers survived:

In 2005, Tuninter 1153 (an ATR 72) ditched off the Sicilian coast after running out of fuel. Of 39 aboard, 20 survived with injuries including serious burns. The plane's wreck was found in three pieces.
In 1996, Ethiopian 961 (a 767-200ER) ditched in shallow water 500 meters from land after being hijacked and running out of fuel. Unable to operate flaps, it impacted at high speed, dragging its left wingtip before tumbling and breaking into three pieces. The panicking hijackers were fighting the pilots for the control of the plane at the time of the impact, which caused the plane to roll just before hitting the water, and the subsequent wingtip hitting the water and breakup are a result of this struggle in the cockpit. Of 175 onboard, 52 survived. Some passengers were killed on impact or trapped in the cabin when they inflated their life vests before exiting. Most of the survivors were found hanging onto a section of the fuselage that remained floating.
In 1970, Antillean 980 (a DC-9-33CF) ditched in mile-deep water after running out of fuel during multiple attempts to land at SXM under low-visibility weather. Of 63 occupants, 40 survivors were recovered by U.S. military helicopters.
In 1963, an Aeroflot Tu-124 ditched into the River Neva after running out of fuel. The aircraft floated and was towed to shore; all 52 onboard survived.
In 1956, Pan Am 943 (a Boeing 377) ditched into the Pacific after losing two of its four engines. The aircraft was able to circle around USCGC Pontchartrain until daybreak, when it ditched; all 31 onboard survived.

Aircraft also sometimes end up in water by simply rolling off their runways. While such incidents are not quite water landings, the passengers do find themselves swimming. Twice at LaGuardia Airport, aircraft have rolled into the East River; in 1989, USAir 5050, a Boeing 737-401 with 63 people aboard, sustained 2 deaths. In 1993 a China Airlines Boeing 747-409 ended up in water after it overran the 13 runway at Hong Kong Airport on landing during a typhoon with wind gusting to gale force. All of the 396 occupants survived.

Crashing

There is a distinction between a controlled ditching and simply crashing (not even crash-landing) into the water; the latter is capable of killing everyone upon impact and disintegrating the plane. For example, Armavia Flight 967, EgyptAir Flight 990 and Swissair Flight 111 left no survivors when they crashed, while just 7 of 72 onboard American Airlines Flight 320 and 10 of 179 onboard Kenya Airways Flight 431 survived their crashes. On a smaller scale, John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his two passengers died in a water crash. As Patrick Smith comments, these crashes tend to be more memorable than controlled water landings, perhaps fueling the public's suspicions of the survivability of aircraft that hit water.

In fiction

The 1954 film The High and the Mighty revolves around the occupants of a passenger plane that must ditch in the Pacific.[link]
The 1958 film Crash Landing revolves around the occupants of a passenger plane that must ditch in the Atlantic. The water landing "goes without a hitch and a US Naval ship is right there to save them."[link]
In the 1977 film Airport '77, a Boeing 747 crashes and settles to the ocean floor largely intact.[link]
In the 1997 film Air Force One, fictional President Harrison Ford and others are rescued mid-air from the plane before it crashes into the Caspian Sea and breaks up.
In the 1998 film , Data says, "In the event of a water landing, I have been designed to act as a flotation device."[link]
The 2000 film Cast Away includes a detailed depiction of a FedEx cargo flight ditching into the ocean, leaving the protagonist as the only survivor.
The television series ''Lost centers around the survivors of a plane that brokeup in midair over the Pacific, with the fuselage landing on an island but the tail section landing in the ocean.