Originally Posted by
The SAR RC
The impact of this crash was sufficient for the sponsons (and their integral dinghies) to detach as I recall. I very much doubt sea state six floats would have made any difference to the poor souls with multiple broken bones who drowned in the freezing cold water.
You can talk about the design flaw and the inadequate run-dry time for decades if you like. The simple truth is that if the Captain had listened to his co-pilot, who twice told him that they had reached the words 'Land Immediately' in the checklist, there would have been no accident to survive, merely a controlled ditching.
I think you are missing the point, which is that the sea state at the time was above 4 and perhaps that was a factor in the captain's denial about the need to ditch - ie he knew it would not be a safe ditching and possibly felt that continued flight was the safer option. But of course we don't know that.