Ditching

Murdoughnut

Murdoughnut

Well sized member
I've been reading up, trying to find the recommended methods for ditching over water in a small, GA aircraft such as a SkyHawk, and haven't had much luck. I've found a lot of conflicting advice, so I thought I'd pose the question here - what's the recommended methods?

Here's what I've collected so far...

Preparation
1) Obviously, make sure seat belts are tight and secure.
2) Find something to shield yourself and/or passengers from hitting the panel
3) Keep your hands away from the yoke, and feet away from the rudder pedals as they can move fast enough and abruptly enough to break appendages (can anyone confirm this)
4) Crack the door as in emergency landing procedures

Contact
I've actually heard a few suggestions for this...
1) Normal soft field landing procedure, hold the a/c wheels above the water until stall and brace for impact
2) At a low airspeed, abruptly pull back on the yoke and allow the tail to contact the water first in order to absorb some of the momentum.
3) Stall a few feet above the water and pancake in at as a low of a forward speed as possible
4) Jump out of the aircraft a few feet above water, at as low an airspeed as possible (if in a piston single such as a 172)

Any ideas or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I only ask because I regularly depart over Tampa Bay.

Thanks!
 
Murdoughnut said:
Contact
I've actually heard a few suggestions for this...
1) Normal soft field landing procedure, hold the a/c wheels above the water until stall and brace for impact
2) At a low airspeed, abruptly pull back on the yoke and allow the tail to contact the water first in order to absorb some of the momentum.
3) Stall a few feet above the water and pancake in at as a low of a forward speed as possible
4) Jump out of the aircraft a few feet above water, at as low an airspeed as possible (if in a piston single such as a 172)
Click to expand...

OK, I don't know about the rest, but #4 sounds VERY wrong to me. Even a "low airspeed" on a 172 is about 40-50 knots. Hitting the water at that speed is not gonna be too good of an idea...
 
Also I've heard: Land parallel to the wake if possible...but this may be hard if winds are not favorable in that direction.
 
Dont forget to unbuckle the seatbelts before you jump out, ever tried to get out of the car with the seatbelt still on?

1. Radio - Transmit mayday, 7700
2. Secure heavy objects, baggage
3. approach - high winds heavy seas go into wind
light winds heavy swells go parallel to swells
4. wing flaps 20-40 (for skyhawk)
5. Power for 300ft/min decent at 55kias (again skyhawk)
6. unlatch doors
7. touchdown - level attitude at established rate of decent
8. cushion face at touchdown with coat
9. Evacuate through cabin doors, open window if necessary to equalize water pressure for door operation
10. life vest and raft - inflate

Thats a summary from a 1980 Skyhawk POH. Hope it helps.
 
Fly4Pay said:
OK, I don't know about the rest, but #4 sounds VERY wrong to me. Even a "low airspeed" on a 172 is about 40-50 knots. Hitting the water at that speed is not gonna be too good of an idea...
Click to expand...

As crazy as it sounds, there was an article about ditching a few months ago in one of the flying magazines that mentioned a kid who did this. I think he was in a Cirrus or something, and jumped out right before hitting. Survived with no major injuries. I guess the thought is that it would be like falling off a jet-ski or something and you don't have to worry about not being able to get out. Sounds crazy, but I though I'd throw it out there.
 
I did some reading on this a while back as well. i wish I knew the links.

I am only relating other's experience as I have none of my own (though everyone of my landings would appear to be a controlled crash...)


#3 preparation is wrong as you want to fly the airplane until you can exit it.

Also #3 contact is wrong. Stalling before impact tends to cause the nose to drop. If anything you want the nose to stay up.

Other than that, the advise is good. Land parralel to swells if possible. If a ditching at night is required You should set up for as low a sink rate as you can maintain and fly that all the way to impact as you won't be able to judge when contact will occur to attempt a flare.


Now the million $$$ question. Where ya going???
 
Nowhere in particular, I just make a lot of over water takeoffs on the Florida Gulf Coast. I'll probably make it out to the Bahamas sometime in the fall.

Thanks for all of you guys' input - hopefully it'll never come up!
 
ive said this before but ill say it again for those that havent heard it. stalling an airplane a few feet above anything whether it be water or land or anything else for that matter is going to hurt a lot more and greatly increase the risk of death. if you dont believe it look at stats. also for those practicing emergency off airport landings if you come up short of your point, lets say a field, its much better to land in the trees before than trying to stretch it out and end up stalling into the trees or even the field.
 
Milesar said:
Dont forget to unbuckle the seatbelts before you jump out, ever tried to get out of the car with the seatbelt still on?

1. Radio - Transmit mayday, 7700
2. Secure heavy objects, baggage
3. approach - high winds heavy seas go into wind
light winds heavy swells go parallel to swells
4. wing flaps 20-40 (for skyhawk)
5. Power for 300ft/min decent at 55kias (again skyhawk)
6. unlatch doors
7. touchdown - level attitude at established rate of decent
8. cushion face at touchdown with coat
9. Evacuate through cabin doors, open window if necessary to equalize water pressure for door operation
10. life vest and raft - inflate

Thats a summary from a 1980 Skyhawk POH. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...

#5 doesn't make sense. If I have power available then why am I ditching?
 
Ill take my chances stalling into a mountain side before I ditch a fixed gear airplane into the drink...no thank you.
 
I was going over all these in my head while I was flying over the Delaware bay yesterday. Another thing to point out, if I can't reach land I'm either getting as close to it as possible, or I'm finding a boat, flying as near to it as possible as to get their attention. There's always a few cargo ships and barges in the Chesapeake, if I can I'm flying right in front of their command bridge...cause they're probably not going to hear me coming.
 
A few ideas applying to GA aircraft:

Try to land as close as possible to help, considering beaches, boats, shipping lanes etc.
Retractable gear retracted.
Ensure passengers are wearing life jackets, but do not inflate.
Avoid using excessive flap in low wing aircraft as it will increase drag and could lead to assymetric flap.
In light winds with relatively flat seas land into wind.
In moderate wind land with a crosswind and aim to land along the crest of the wave.
In strong winds above 35kts land into wind.
Avoid stalling the aircraft, fly for the minimum rate of descent, and fly the aircraft onto the water. Stalling the aircraft increases the chances of nosing over. Remembering depth perception is difficult in smooth water.

Hope this helps.
 
If you're flying off the FL coast, then of course the question arises: would you rather die from the crash or from becoming shark bait?
 
I occasionally will spot some hammerheads swimming off the coast - pretty neat to see (from the air). But it's Florida, we'll find a way to kill them off, along with everything that's green, swimming, homeless, or walks on four legs.
 
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