Originally Posted by
Thomas coupling
I accept the pilot was 'busy' during the engine off ...
Yes, maybe with making Mayday calls, and trying to inflate the floats. ANC rules (aviate, navigate, communicate). Possibly, as other have said here, just misjudged the height due to water-related depth illusion.
On a different note: In my eyes these open door joy rides with tethered tourists dangling out of the aircraft don't meet my understanding of the following pre-take off checklist item:
No loose objects in the cockpit
If we have half a door open, we are already worried about a pax' camera or similar flying out and blown into the tail rotor. This (new and now fairly common) modus operandi seems to be turning this exceptional risk into a standard operating condition.