Originally Posted by
punkalouver
I used to do freshwater scuba diving in Florida when I would go down for sim training(plus one manatee encounter swim). I dived at several springs and a river where there actually was an alligator on the riverbank that we passed in the boat. I think the alligator attack thing is overblown. Yes, there are attacks but compared to the number of scuba dives/swims, the proportion of incidents is small. In other words, if you ditched your aircraft in the water and survived the crash, you would likely survive the possibility of an alligator attack. Bottom line, considering a ditching is not a stupid suggestion. Therefore, to decide not to ditch and choose a much riskier option would be foolish.
I guess many people have this idea of a human touching the water and multiple crocs immediately starting to swim over like a James Bond movie. Perhaps similar to many people automatically thinking of a crash when they think of an airliner.
For reference....
."There were 401 unprovoked alligator attacks on humans in Florida between 1948 and 2021. Out of these 401 incidents, 25 led to fatal attacks. Most Florida alligator attacks occur near fresh water sources like lakes, ponds, and rivers. Florida witnesses an average of 7 unprovoked alligator attacks on humans per year".
7 attacks on probably millions of people going for a swim/scuba dive.
(29) LIVE AND LET DIE | Crocodile Farm - YouTube
I went to flight school in Florida. I never even thought about alligators as a factor for emergency landings. I did managed to get chased by one once, I swam across a river and it followed me the whole way.Obviously it could have caught me anytime it wanted to. They are not crocodiles and are not nearly as nasty. There are Florida crocs, but they are quite rare.
In fairness to the pilots, it isn't like they had time to study Google Earth.