Light Aircraft Ditches

[Capt Scribble]

Light aircraft down in Porthcawl South Wales. Reports are the pilot climbed out. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/plane-crashes-sea-coast-porthcawl-27111785i'm

[Cornish Jack]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65887992

[pasta]

I love the public reaction to incidents like this (though there's no reason people who don't fly should know any better):

> "He was very lucky where it landed, I walked out of my house and saw a red shape," she said.
> Mr Brown described the incident as "a very near miss" and said if the pilot had landed on nearby rocks, it "would have been a very different outcome"

As CJ says, nicely done, pleased to hear it worked out...

[Parson]

I hope I'd be able to do as good a job if the fan stopped. Well done.

[megan]

RENEGADE SPIRIT powered by a BMW RT1200R

[DaveReidUK]

Modified version of the original Murphy design, this example was built in 1992 and reclassified just over a year ago as an SSDR (single-seat deregulated) microlight.

[treadigraph]

The ditching was videoed...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-65894963

[pilotmike]

Yes, a successful ditching parallel to the shoreline in shallow water. Any landing you walk away from is a good landing! Well done that pilot!

Possibly the only improvement to one's chances of survival would be to minimise speed at splashdown, so a very positive aft stick at the last moment, effectively to stall the aircraft a metre or so above the water, aiming for a belly-flop onto the surface rather than a more conventional type landing where the wheels dig in and cause the cartwheel.

And before anyone accuses me of 'not being there, in that situation'…. I have been. I also have had to force land a Renegade Spirit after a total engine failure - successfully - so I fully understand the predicament this pilot was in. Mercifully for my passenger and me, there was a single cut field surrounded by others full of standing crop, and it was possible to land between sets of cables in the only available stubble field.

I can tell you, after the noise of the open cockpit and rather thrashy Rotax 2 stroke engine / prop combination working hard at full climb power, the sudden silence is shocking, and focuses the mind really quickly. All I had time for after selecting and planning the descent into the one and only field was to tell the front seat passenger to tighten their harness as much as possible, which, surprisingly, they wanted to have a discussion about - I gave the firm instruction a second time, and told them to brace against the cockpit coaming. Their only further comment was to tell me that the propellor had stopped. Always useful to have a second pair of eyes to point out anything the pilot may not have noticed!

Both of us walked away, not a scratch to the aircraft, which could be flown again after engine replacement, unlike the subject Renegade which is a total loss from the sea.

[Pilot DAR]

Possibly the only improvement to one's chances of survival would be to minimise speed at splashdown, so a very positive aft stick at the last moment, effectively to stall the aircraft a metre or so above the water, aiming for a belly-flop onto the surface rather than a more conventional type landing where the wheels dig in and cause the cartwheel.

For those fixed gear airplanes whose flight manuals describe a ditching procedure, I have much more seen a recommendation to not full stall and drop into ditching, but rather fly the airplane into the water under control until it stops. Indeed, for the Cessna Caravan it says to ditch with no flare (maintain descent attitude). After a few thousand deliberate water landings I have flown in floatplanes and flying boats, I support this technique unless otherwise specifically recommended for a certain type in its flight manual.

[CayleysCoachman]

Behaviour at and just beyond the stall is not completely reliable or predictable. Moreover, few pilots have experienced the stall behaviour of their aircraft with the engine stopped, and without the attendant effects, notably energised airflow over the tail. In line with the sage advice to ‘fly the aircraft until it stops moving’, retaining control and presenting it for ditching at very low speed but with a positive pitch attitude and under control, as Pilot DAR says, is usually sensible. That’s said, my first objective is never to fly beyond range of a suitable landing site.

[Pearly White]

CayleysCoachman Suitable landing sites probably few and far between in that neck of the woods.

[Pilot DAR]

Suitable landing sites probably few and far between in that neck of the woods.

True, though a suitable landing site close which is poor is better than an "I lost control and crashed" site anywhere.

A forced landing crash on an unsuitable land surface can be bad to very bad, with the possible additional need to get out a wrecked plane fast because of fire. But, ditching in all but the most shallow water includes the very real risk of drowning, and then the need to care for yourself and your passengers in the water. Hopefully, everyone can stand up, and walk to shore. I have taken the underwater egress course twice, and been crashed into the water by my student once. Finding yourself injured, and hanging onto the aileron of a sinking airplane means that you're only part way through your survival problems. Get the plane into the water such that you don't get injured, don't drown, and have the opportunity to egress with what you need to survive. A decent, controlled ditching is a beginning to that. Water is not "soft" at airplane flying speeds - hitting water is about as hard a stop as hitting very soft ground. And, like the soft ground, it's going to grab the bottom of the plane. We think that because we can gracefully dive into a sparkling swimming pool a ditching could be graceful - no, it can't!

[Jhieminga]

We think that because we can gracefully dive into a sparkling swimming pool...
How many pilots do you know that can execute this manoeuvre in a graceful manner? ;)