Quote:
Originally Posted by
mike757007 
Question ? Assuming the aircraft flew on without human input until it ran out of fuel. When it hit the sea, would the aircraft fuselage stay intact, or would it disintegrate creating lots of surface wreckage ?
Saigon 480
I would expect lots of surface wreckage.
Even if “Sully” Sullenberger tried to land a B777 at night on ocean swells I would expect lots of surface wreckage.
Pontius Navigator
As with everything else here, it depends.
There have been several recorded instances of aircraft making soft landings without human intervention. Admittedly the ones I know of were military jets where the crew had banged out, but there is no reason to suppose that the aircraft may have made a very shallow descent, alighted and remained intact.
Photo of a typical day on the ocean at the end of the southern arc:
