Well Rich Lee have you not ever done circuits/patterns, or an approach over water to a pad/airport which is perfectly legal & regularly done? Or what if the floats fail to deploy, or if your doing aerial work or private ops over water which you do NOT require floats? Or your within auto distance to land but the beach is packed with people, or for some other reason not suitable? So there are plenty of legit what ifs over water? The question is what if the noise stops during over water flight & you HAVE to ditch in the drink; then what are the options & alternatives? Based on some great valid responses here, then given a ditching in a anti-clockwise rotating machine the safer option is after the flare level cushion... settle in, then roll the machine to the RIGHT, hence reducing the chance of the tranny & engine joining you in the cockpit for a little tea & crumpet. Thanks heaps for the constructive responses. Cheers