[BITList] Commercial Aircraft Ditching

[John Feltham]

Someone finally put together a history of commercial aircraft ditching  
complete with pictures.  It is very educational in view of Sully's  
performance in the Hudson.


> Flat water is useful
>
> That's what the manuals all say. If you¢re going to put your flying  
> machine down on the water, flat water is useful. Boeing, Airbus,  
> Lockeed, Tupolef; they all have their version of just how it's done.  
> And yes Mildred, ditching checklists are in all the aircraft  
> operating manuals. They say things like;
>
> "When landing on the open ocean land with the swells. Avoid the  
> aircraft hitting the top of one, then slamming down into the trough  
> beyond".
>
> Good to know.
>
> "Generally, using the flaps reduces the speed and reduces the pitch  
> angle, leaving less chance of striking the rear fuselage first and  
> slamming the nose down into the water".
>
> I think I'll use flaps.
>
> "Gear up is recommended".
>
> The FAA even describes the safety requirements in the event of a  
> ditching: (Federal Aviation Regulation Part 25, Section 801) "It  
> must be shown that, under reasonably probable water conditions,  
> flotation time and trim of the airplane will allow the occupants to  
> leave the airplane and enter the life rafts required by 25.1415.  
> Appropriate allowances must be made for probable structural damage  
> and leakage"
>
> Wow. Information. Proceedures. Advice. That's all great but it looks  
> to me like 'most' of the modern day ditchings have come as a sudden  
> surprise to everyone. Not much time to think it over. While  
> airplanes have been going 'in the drink' since 1903 or so, let's  
> just look at the airliner types from 1955 (the jet age).
>
> 1955 - March 26, 1955. Pan American Flight 845/26 a four-engined  
> Boeing 377 Stratocruiser named "Clipper United State" had departed  
> Portland International Airport on a flight to Honolulu. The aircraft  
> was 35 miles from the Oregon coast when at 11:12 AM the No. 3 engine  
> and propeller tore loose from the wing causing the aircraft to  
> become almost uncontrollable. The aircraft was ditched and floated  
> for twenty minutes before sinking in 5000 feet of water. After an  
> orderly evacuation the survivors spent two hours aboard rafts and  
> slides before the USS Bayfield arrived on the scene to rescue them.
>
>
>
> 1956 - April 2, 1956. North West Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing  
> Stratocruiser, ditched into Puget Sound shortly after an 8 AM  
> takeoff from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). As  
> the flaps were retracted the aircraft then began rolling to the left  
> and buffeting uncontrollably. Loosing altitude and with little  
> control over their aircraft, they ditched in the 430 foot deep,  
> freezing waters of Puget Sound. Their Mayday was heard by a Coast  
> Guard vessel and an Air Force amphibious Grumman Albatross, both of  
> which raced to assist. The aircraft was landed smoothly but the tail  
> section broke off and it took on water quickly. All aboard departed  
> safely using the seat cushions as flotation devices. The Air Force  
> Grumman landed less than ten minutes after the ditching and launched  
> life rafts. Not all were able to reach them and many remained in the  
> freezing waters until rescued less than thirty minutes later by the  
> Coast Guard vessel. Four passengers and one male flight attendant  
> apparently succumbed to hypothermia and were not recovered. The  
> Stratocruiser sank 15 minutes after the ditching.
>
>
>
> 1956 - 16 October, 1956. Possibly the most anticipated and  
> documented ditching ever. Pan American Flight 943, another Boeing  
> 377 Stratocruiser "Sovereign of the Skies", enroute from Honolulu to  
> San Francisco ditched in the Pacific. Soon after passing the 'point  
> of no return' (mid ocean) the number 1 engine seized, but the  
> propeller would not feather thus causing excessive drag. With climb  
> power on the remaining three engines, the number four engine began  
> to backfire and power began to drop off. Calculating the additional  
> fuel flow due to drag, the crew determined there was insufficient  
> fuel to reach San Francisco. The plane was flown to Ocean Station  
> November, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter 'Pontchartrain', and circled  
> there until daylight. Aware of the Pan Am Flight 845/26 incident the  
> year before, in which a 377's tail section had broken off in a water  
> landing, the purser cleared passengers from the back of the plane.  
> At 5:40 AM the cutter laid out a foam path to aid the captain's  
> depth perception. (Determining your actual height above water or  
> desert is very difficult due to the lack of reference).
>
>
>
> The plane touched down at 6:15, at 90 knots with full flaps and  
> landing gear retracted.
>
>
>
> The tail broke off but all 31 on board survived the ditching.
>
>
>
> Life rafts were deployed and all were rescued by the Coast Guard.
>
>
>
> The wreckage sank in less than 20 minutes at 6:35.
>
>
>
> In October 1963, an Aeroflot Tu124 was on a flight from Estonia to  
> Moscow when a landing gear problem led to a diversion to Leningrad.  
> The aircraft entered holding while the crew sorted out their gear  
> problems. Then, 13 miles from Leningrad airport, the aircraft ran  
> out of fuel. The crew managed to ditch the aircraft on the nearby  
> Neva River, narrowly missing a tugboat which then sped to the  
> floating airplane, cast a line and towed it to shallow waters. All  
> 52 aboard survived.
>
>
>
> 1966 - On the 4th of February 1966 an All Nippon Airways 727-100  
> descending to land at Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) ditched short of  
> the airport, broke apart and sank with all 133 aboard.
>
>
>
> One Of JAL's stretched DC-8's, 'Shiga.' landed 2 miles short of the  
> runway at San Francisco International Airport. The aircraft touched  
> down in water only 8 feet deep, and when the landing gear settled  
> into the mud, the water level was just at the bottom of the  
> passenger doors. So smoothly did the aircraft land on and settle in  
> the water, that many of the passengers accepted it as the expected  
> normal landing. There were no injuries. The aircraft was recovered,  
> repaired, and flown again.
>
>
>
> 1970 - On May 2, Antillean Airlines (ALM) Flight 980, a DC-9 leased  
> from Overseas Airways, departed Kennedy International nonstop to St.  
> Maarten. After three attempted approaches to St. Maarten in bad  
> weather, the crew diverted for St. Croix. Enroute the crew realized  
> they were too low on fuel to either make St Croix or too turn back  
> St. Maarten. They ditched the aircraft in Caribbean with only 40 of  
> the 63 passengers surviving.
>
>
>
> 1972 - On the 17th of July, 1972, a Tupolev Tu-134 approaching  
> Moscow's Moskva-Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO/UUEE), Russia ditched in  
> Moscow Channel after both engines flamed out on final approach. The  
> crew had forgotten to switch on the fuel transfer pumps in time and  
> starved the engines of fuel. All aboard survived.
>
>
>
> 1978 - On the 8th of May, National Airlines Flight 193, a Boeing  
> 727-235 en route from Miami to New Orleans, at night in low  
> visibility from fog, descending into Pensacola Regional Airport,  
> impacted Escambia Bay, sinking in 12 feet of water. A non-precision  
> approach to runway 25 was being used. While established on the  
> approach the ground proximity alarm sounded and the first officer  
> checked his altimeter. He read it as 1,500' and turned off the  
> alarm. The flight data recorder showed their actual altitude at this  
> point was only 500' and they failed to realize they had passed  
> through the minimum descent altitude. They touched down in Escambia  
> Bay. Three passengers drowned.
>
>
>
> 1980 - On 7 August 1980, a Tupolev 154B-1 operated by Tarom Romanian  
> Airlines ditched in the water, 1000 feet short of the runway at  
> Nouadhibou Airport (NDB/GQPP), Mauritania. All aboard survived.
>
>
>
> 1980 - On 10 October 1980, a Sudan Air 707, newly purchased from Air  
> Lingus was being transferred from Ireland to Egypt. The aircraft was  
> inadvertently ditched on the Nile River at Khartoum when the pilot  
> mistook the moonlit river for the nearby runway. Within two days the  
> airplane had been stripped bare by the locals.
>
>
>
> 1982 - On 9 February 1982, Japan Airlines Flight 350, a stretched  
> DC-8-61, from Fukuoka to Tokyo was on approach to the airport when  
> Captain Seiji Katagiri's reversed the DC-8's inboard engines in a  
> deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft. The First Officer and  
> Flight Engineer worked to restrain him and stop the aircrafts decent  
> but the DC-8 touched down in shallow water short of the runway with  
> a loss of 24 of 166 passengers and 8 crew. Captain Katagiri was the  
> first person on the rescue boat and, attempting to avoid detection,  
> claimed to rescuers that he was an office worker. Captain Katagiri  
> was later found not guilty due to insanity.
>
>
>
> 1996 - 23 November, 1996, Ethiopian Air Lines 767, having been  
> hijacked by three men, ran out of fuel off the coast of the Comoros  
> Islands. The pilot had been given clearance to land at Moroni  
> Airport, Grand Comoro, but he knew the plane would not reach it and  
> tried to land the plane in the water near the Galawa seaside resort.  
> The hijackers were struggling with the crew for the controls when  
> the aircraft impacted the water in a slight wing down attitude. The  
> pilot and copilot survived but the hijackers did not, nor did 123 of  
> the 175 passengers aboard.
>
>
>
> A Boeing 707-351C of Trans Arabian Air Transport departed Khartoum  
> for a flight to Mwanza. When they arrived there was no power at  
> Mwanza but there was 5 miles visibility. After holding for 10  
> minutes, the airport generator came on and the runway lights went  
> on. The first officer was flying a visual to runway 12. When well  
> established on final the captain told the f/o that he was too low.  
> The captain took over control and started a right turn when the  
> aircraft bounced and came to a halt in the middle of the lake.
>
>
>
> 2002 - 16 January, 2002, an Indonesian Airline (Guarda) Boeing  
> 737-300 had both engines flame out in a descend through rain clouds.  
> Relights failed, the Captain set up a glide at 240 knots and decided  
> to ditch on a river, the only clear spot in sight. The ditching was  
> well executed and the 737 came to a stop, floating near the side of  
> the river. One fatality, a stewardess who drowned in the 6 foot deep  
> water.
>
>
>
> 2005 - August 6, 2005, Tuninter Air ATR-72, Flt. 1153, from Bari  
> International Airport in Bari, Italy to Djerba-Zarzis Airport in  
> Djerba, Tunisia, ran out of fuel and ditched into the ocean. The  
> fuel gauge for an ATR-42 had been mistakenly installed on the  
> ATR-72. The aircraft ran out of fuel mid-flight and the crew  
> requested an emergency landing in Palermo, Sicily. The ATR glided  
> for 16 minutes before ditching 15 miles northeast of Palermo  
> International Airport. The aircraft broke apart on impact with 16 of  
> the 39 aboard lost.
>
>
>
> 2009 - 15 January 2009; US Airways A320-200. The aircraft was a  
> scheduled passenger flight from LaGuardia to Charlotte, NC. It  
> struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff and lost power on both  
> engines. The crew ditched the aircraft in the Hudson River. The  
> aircraft reached about 3200 feet before it began to descend. After  
> ditching, all five crew members and 150 passengers evacuated the  
> aircraft. According to the A320 quick reference guide, the ditching  
> procedure calls for Flaps 3 and a minimum approach speed of 150 kts  
> and Airbus recommends 11 degrees of pitch at the time of touchdown.  
> Seems it worked out OK for them, freezing water and all.
>
>
>
>




ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.




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