Spyke

I'm assuming the airplane is fucked and they had to ditch it in the water. He's wearing an emergency floatation vest.

2
lemmy.world

Remember kids, according to an FAA review of accidents, no type of water ditching has lower than an eighty percent survivability rating. So putting it in the drink is always an option.

46
xantoxisreply
lemmy.world

Not really sure what "water ditching" means but I assume that's any time the airplane ends up in the water instead of on land?

If that's a case, then there's definitely the type of water ditching where the plane angles into the water at full speed, and I don't think that's gonna have 80%

26
FenrirIIIreply
lemmy.world

I think ditching implies some control over the aircraft, versus straight crashing.

28
xantoxisreply
lemmy.world

Maybe. Can anyone illuminate the 80% statistic? I'd like to know what it actually means.

EDIT: Love when I ask a good-faith question and it gets downvotes because someone answered it.

5

Not maybe, yes. Thats what it means. "Water ditching" is a common colloquial name for an "emergency water landing" which is a type of emergency landing. A plane doing a nose dive straight into the water is not an emergency landing. That's just a run of the mill crash.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_landing

The US forest service says it's 90% but I'm not sure where they get that number from either.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5139786.pdf

9

Flight instructor here: "ditching" is the technical term for landing a land plane on water. Here's the procedure from the Pilots Operating Handbook of a Cessna 172S:

23

I'm pretty sure by "type of ditching" OP means the water conditions. Ditching near the beach is often safer a roadway landing. The least safe is ditching in rough seas in the middle of the ocean, but even that has a surprisingly high survival rate. Pilots don't always know this, and sometimes give up, not knowing that if they glide the airplane carefully down to the water, their chances of living are pretty good.

5
Anticorpreply
lemmy.world

I'm pretty sure survival chances are a lot lower than 80% when the water is freezing, and they're far from rescue.

2
Cortreply
lemmy.world

I think they're saying you'll survive the landing. What happens after is more variable

9

That's just his emotional support plane in the background, nothing to see here folks. Move along.

21

Looks like a great opportunity to talk about your car's extended warranty!

10
jagungalreply
lemmy.world

That's gotta be the most pretentious way of saying "aircraft tail"

3

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