Is gear-up or gear-down SOP for ditching?
Re:
"I heard an eyewitness observing from an office window (next to the river) say the landing gear was down, 'just like a normal landing' " but the photo from Navigator33 shows wheels-up (at least at that altitude).
Accordingly, some questions from this non-pilot:
1. Is wheels-up or wheels-down generally advised for ditching airliners?
2. If wheels-down is indicated, is that intended to help absorb impact energy and (incrementally) reduce forward inertia upon the aircraft's contact with water, via wheels/gear shear-off?
3. Nonetheless, could there conceivably be a negative effect from ditching wheels-down? That is, would the wheels/gear tend to "hook in" to the water, pulling the nose down and under water, increasing deceleration rate (and injuries) and risk of fuselage breakup? Or could wheels/gear shear-off cause troublesome (sic) damage if the separated pieces then impact the aircraft elsewhere?
4. Conversely, if wheels-up is indicated, could ditching in such a clean configuration increase the probability of a smoother landing, assuming proper AOA being maintained? (I presume that there are no interlocks that would preclude deploying flaps/slats without gear-down.)
5. Of course, either way, the deceleration vector could be twisted by lack of bilateral symmetry in engine shear off, possibly causing fuselage breakup.)
6. Also, swell and wave height, and cross-wind gusting (if the PIC could not land into the wind), also would be factors, either way.