Why is landing airplanes on water not preferred?

Have you seen or heard about any aeroplane which has landed on water? Not often right? An incident occurred on January 15, 2009, when the US Airways Flight 1549 flew into a flock of Canadian geese shortly after taking off from New York's Laguardia airport. The plane lost all engine power while flying over Manhattan. The pilot had only two options, attempt to land on the Hudson River or crash into one of the densest cities in the US. Thanks to clear conditions, expert piloting, and a quick response from the emergency cruise, all 150 passengers survived. You may have heard this story before but it's not the only time that something like this has happened, and despite that success, landing a plane on the water is extremely dangerous. Let’s see about ditching, risks involved, and the measures taken by the pilot for successful landing in the subsequent paragraphs.



What is Ditching?

This ditching is not the one where we try to get rid of unwanted things or people. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing of aeroplanes on water. It can be caused by almost anything. But the main reason is engine failure or running out of fuel. Pilots decided to ditch an aircraft only when there is no better alternative.



Why is landing aeroplanes on water not preferred?

The main reason is lack of training on this for pilots. Despite this being difficult, pilots are not trained extensively on ditching or water landing. Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 told the telegraph in 2018 - The only training we had gotten for a water landing was reading a few paragraphs in a manual and having a brief classroom discussion. “You read on practice, not even in the aeroplane or simulator but most airlines will cover it in training. That is not something that is mandated,” says Carolina Anderson further, an Associate Professor of Aeronautical Science at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.


Anderson added that it is rare to have to ditch an aeroplane. “It's not something that is very common, you see them in smaller plane more often and in big airliners not very often.” Planes are usually tested using simulations rather than actual bodies of water. The aircraft needs to float for enough time for passengers to evacuate. The pilots have to worry about the plane and also of many other things around. Unlike landing on a runway, there are a lot of variables that are out of the pilots’ control. The most threatening variable of all is the waves. Larger the waves, the more dangerous the landing. Pilots try to land parallel to the waves instead of across them so the waves don't push the plane around which could cause damage to the plane, injuring passengers, and make evacuating more difficult.


For example, in 1956, a Pan Am Flight 6 had to ditch in the Pacific between Honolulu and San Francisco. Upon landing, the wing hit a swell rotating the plane 180 degrees damaging the nose and breaking off the tail. Luckily everyone survived.



What are the precautionary measures taken while ditching?

While ditching, pilots need to keep the wing level and maintain an incoming angle that's not too steep to prevent a hard impact. Inside the plane, the passengers will be told to brace for impact and anything loose in the cabin would need to be tied down.


Modern planes are equipped with a bunch of safety features to help passengers when aircraft is ditched. Commercial aircraft use rafts and floatation devices like life preservers. They also come with flares and emergency radios. Aeroplanes are designed so that a water landing won't cause immediate harm to passengers.



What are the risks involved?

A key factor that has to be considered while ditching is the weather. Clear conditions give a pilot better control over the aircraft and increase visibility. Pilots have to balance all of these variables to prevent the aircraft from breaking apart.


If a plane breaks upon impact, there is a huge risk of flooding. “We are not going to float for very long and if you land too hard the chances of breaking in are very high because water is going to get in and it's going to start sinking” adds Carolina Anderson. If a plane flips over, flooding will occur much faster. “Basically you want to touch down as slow and as soft as possible. If the airplane has retractable landing gear, you want the gear to be up and you want the flaps to be completely down.” says Carolina Anderson. If the landing is successful, the next step is getting everyone off the plane, which has to happen quickly since the Federal Aviation Administration requires planes to be able to evacuate within 90 seconds.



Don't let this discourage you from flying. Force water landings are unlikely to happen, especially on a commercial flight. Do keep in mind that many ditching-related deaths are from drowning, not the impact. Whenever flying, listen carefully to safety instructions. Always remain calm because, ‘Ships (here aeroplanes) don’t sink because of water around them; they sink because of the water that gets in them, Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.'