The Nimrod that ditched in the Moray Firth had suffered a uncontained fire in the wing-root. The crew-member reporting on the fires progress informed the Captain of the upper wing panels peeling away with the fire and the decision was made to ditch only 3 minutes flying time from the nearest airfield. The weather was more or less perfect, with an almost flat calm sea and the aircraft ditched with power on. The Captain said that as the aircraft hit the water there was a violent deceleration and the nose plunged below the surface and everything went black! the aircraft then rose back up to the surface and daylight and then went back down again twice more. The aircraft came to a stop and floated for some time (20mins I believe) despite having broken its back. All the crew members escaped safely and stepped off the wing into the liferafts.
Clearly the calm sea conditions were a major factor in this positive outcome, also the highly trained crew (no pax!) wearing lifejackets and a lightweight jet.
Rightly, the Captain was decorated for his actions in saving his crew.