Would you choose to ditch a fixed gear in water?

FlySince9 said:
[START RANT] Ok... My last post and then I'm moving on... The original question implied that there were 2 viable options... Land or water...A landing spot on land was available, and then the water... The question was would you choose the water over the land because it is inherently safer to do so...Obviously, if the choice on land involved trees, a mountain, a nuclear power plant, or a volcano, and there was a soft, calm lake as an alternative, you would take the water landing.... However if given a choice of LAND or WATER and both were viable options... LAND ON THE GROUND ON YOUR FREAK'N WHEELS... [END RANT]
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Like I said, if you have an open field, take it! Did you actually read my post?

The point of this entire conversation is that there are times where water is a better option, but it isn't even considered. That's all.
 
FlySince9 said:
My understanding is that a Fixed gear airplane will almost always flip over... And if you've never done that, say in some kind of dunk training, it can be very disorienting.... It then comes down to how long you can hold your breath and whether or not you can get the doors open ( if you hadn't pre-unlatched them )....if you're even still conscious. I don't think the odds are as good as you imply... And given the choice of floating around for what could be hours waiting for rescue, as the sharks circle, as opposed to sitting on a tree-stump or rock, waiting for the sheriff to arrive... I'll still take the latter option, thank-you! Also the OP's question was whether to choose a water landing over another option. That means you decide to land in the water when another option is available... I'm sorry, but that is just plain stupid!
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Your understanding is wrong and egress rates are 95% on water ditchings for a reason. So while I appreciate yet another "it's so hard to get out of a plane in the water!!!" anecdote, it doesn't match the reality of the situation. There's a big difference between a dunk simulation that seeks to train the worst case scenario and what happens in 99% of water ditchings in small planes. Planes don't sink right away, fixed gear planes rarely flip, and even when they do, the vast majority get out anyway.

I see your last post, and sure, if you've got a viable option on land, take it. But given the topic of this thread and some of the assertions, it's equally important to discuss some myths that may get people killed one day. Always choosing to go into trees because someone is irrationally scared of an inland water ditching is dumb.
 
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Stewartb said:
I'm curious why so many comments about avoiding tall trees. Tree tops are pretty forgiving shock absorbers. What do you "professional" internet experts say to that?
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I'm glad that tree tops are typically survivable if they are the only option, but you aren't going to convince me that there's a higher survival rate doing that than an inland water ditching given the statistics we have access to.

Nevermind the fact that injuries are almost always minor in inland water ditchings while I'd guess tree top landings rarely go as well, even if you live.

(I'm purposely not discussing blue water ditchings, which carry a slightly less survival rate than inland because if you are ditching in deep blue water it's obviously your only option anyway)
 
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Come fly in Alaska and find out why my comments differ from yours. I lost a friend a couple of years ago to a controlled water ditching close to shore. This is a discussion that has lots of perspectives. The big take is that there are lots of factors that determine what you'd do. None are always right, none are always wrong.
 
Most people don't live in Alaska and I think we all recognize the caveats concerning that area. If you go three pages back, I and others mentioned that water temperature is always a big variable for example. No one every claimed the survival rate is 100%.

I'm arguing against absolutes in this thread, not for them.
 
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Just wondering here,

How many people keep survival packs and /or an inflatable life raft in their airplanes when taking long trips?
 
FloridaPilot said:
Just wondering here,

How many people keep survival packs and /or an inflatable life raft in their airplanes when taking long trips?
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To be fair, I don't take many long trips. I do carry a small survival pack and a faux leatherman in my flight bag. I also fly over Florida so extreme weather conditions are not too much of an issue.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Just wondering here,

How many people keep survival packs and /or an inflatable life raft in their airplanes when taking long trips?
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Depends on where I fly. I used to have a Spot when I flew out west for ski trips, also packed survival gear.
Flights on the east coast, I generally do not bother. I am at most 30 minutes from an airport situation.

Tim

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk
 
The picture is of a service road on the flats.The accident happened on higher ground with much bigger trees. I'm familiar with the area as it's about 5 miles straight out of my living room windows.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Just wondering here,

How many people keep survival packs and /or an inflatable life raft in their airplanes when taking long trips?
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I usually take my inflatable doll on long trips. She could double as a two man raft if needed.
 
Wow, he really was lucky. It sounds as if he aimed between two trees rather than landing in the treetops, but that may just have been luck. In a turning descent to avoid weather, I'm not sure how much time he had to choose a point of impact.
 
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