PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
Old 24th Jan 2015, 13:23
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Stu B
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Warminster, UK
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Hydrodynamic forces

There seems to be a widespread lack of any understanding of the scale of hydrodynamic forces in many posts here. Water is about 800 times the density of air, which means that 6kt of current generates forces similar to about 28 (I.e. approx square root of 800 ) times 6 or 168 kts airspeed. Even ignoring buoyancy effects, I doubt any pilot will not appreciate that a 168 kt wind would be able to keep that tail section on the move until it gets seriously snagged on something that can hold it!
This calculation also shows why these are hugely challenging conditions for those brave divers.
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