How do feel about aerobatics?
I feel that aerobatics
can be conducted in accordance with the aircraft manufacturer's procedures. Hydroplaning across the water on wheels very certainly cannot. Though, yes, I agree, aerobatics
can be made to be as risky, or more so than the hydroplaning, when it's done very close to the ground.
the important interaction here is on the surface and boundary layer of the water. Whether the depth is a couple of feet or miles makes no difference at all to the flight characteristics
Yes, the plane's tires do not know how deep the water under is, they are interacting with the first couple of inches of the water only. BUT, how deep the lake is, and a number of other factors can hugely affect where the water is! The water is incompressible, but it moves. A boat wake, swell, or floating object could catastrophically upset the slim balance on which the aircraft is hydroplaning. In very shallow water, wakes, swells, and submerged objects are easily visible during the area inspection. And, if you do flip the plane, it's not going to sink, and trap you into an egress situation.
Was the pilot wearing personal floatation suitable for the body of water? I'm thinking it was pretty cold there - immersion suit? - I fly with one at times.
Had the pilot received competent training in underwater egress?
Aviation Egress Training Systems
I, and another dissenting poster here, have taken this course. It's a wake up call for being in these situations at all - let alone putting yourself there for little benefit!
Someone mentions flying across the channel on here, where there is a statistically small risk that you'll have to do a planned ditching into unwelcoming water, and posters will discuss lifejackets, immersion suits, and rafts. Yet someone deliberately flirts with sudden ditching, and posters defend it, without ever asking if the pilot was prepared.
And, it's just a bad example and public display - it temps others into the foolish behaviour:
http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...ing-strip.html
Or lure them into wanting to try it,
Any chance of a spare seat?