Statistically, ditching is generally successful — Page 208, Lesson 303

I want to walk you through what happens when a pilot has to ditch an aircraft — that is, make a deliberate landing on water. This isn't a crash or an uncontrolled impact; it's a controlled, intentional act. The whole point is to give the airframe the best possible chance of surviving the landing, because if the structure holds together, the occupants have a much better chance of getting out alive. Statistically, ditching is generally successful. Data from the UK and the USA shows that 88% of ditchings result in few, if any, injuries to pilots or passengers. That's a very encouraging number. When deaths do occur from ditching, the primary cause is drowning afterwards — not the impact itself. So the success of the ditching depends heavily on how prepared everyone is beforehand, and the success of survival afterwards depends on rapid rescue. And rapid rescue only happens if there were good communications during the initial emergency and after the decision to ditch was made. Let me break down the key factors that make a ditching successful. First, limiting injuries to passengers. This is achieved by adopting a braced posture while securely restrained in the seat harness, wearing a life jacket, and having been fully briefed about what to expect during the landing and what to do afterwards. It's also imperative that loose articles are stowed, seats are correctly positioned, and access to emergency exits is cleared. Supervision of all this is the responsibility of the cabin staff, and it forms an essential part of cabin crew training. On the flight deck, the crew will action the ditching checklists — these are type-specific, meaning they vary depending on the aircraft model — and make any decisions necessary. Now, let's talk about the actual landing technique. There is a recommended practice that has been successfully proved: land along the swell direction, on the crest of the swell. The crest is where the water reaches its high point. If you touch down right on the crest, the water will be travelling downwards on initial contact, which reduces the impact force. But here's an important distinction: swell is produced by tidal movement of the water, whereas waves are caused by the wind, and waves may be running across the swell. So the pilot has to aim for the best compromise between swell, waves, and wind. In any event, the impact of the landing will be higher than a normal landing, and the severity of the impact force increases with the sea state — that is, the rougher the water, the harder the hit. It's recommended to land the aeroplane at the lowest possible speed with the landing gear retracted — gear up — and with an attitude such that the tail will touch first. The aeroplane should be flown onto the water, not dropped onto it through stalling. If the approach attitude and speed are satisfactory, there will inevitably be one or two minor skips before the main impact. That skipping is normal. However, there is a risk: if the nose digs in after those skips, it will result in very high rotational — pitch — g-force, and that may tend to dig the nose into the water, which is exactly what we're trying to avoid by keeping the tail low and the speed controlled.