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submitted 5 months ago by tudor@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.world

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[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

Not really sure what "water ditching" means but I assume that's any time the airplane ends up in the water instead of on land?

If that's a case, then there's definitely the type of water ditching where the plane angles into the water at full speed, and I don't think that's gonna have 80%

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago

I think ditching implies some control over the aircraft, versus straight crashing.

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Maybe. Can anyone illuminate the 80% statistic? I'd like to know what it actually means.

EDIT: Love when I ask a good-faith question and it gets downvotes because someone answered it.

[-] BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

Not maybe, yes. Thats what it means. "Water ditching" is a common colloquial name for an "emergency water landing" which is a type of emergency landing. A plane doing a nose dive straight into the water is not an emergency landing. That's just a run of the mill crash.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_landing

The US forest service says it's 90% but I'm not sure where they get that number from either.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5139786.pdf

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 months ago

Flight instructor here: "ditching" is the technical term for landing a land plane on water. Here's the procedure from the Pilots Operating Handbook of a Cessna 172S:

[-] titus_w_blotter@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

I'm pretty sure by "type of ditching" OP means the water conditions. Ditching near the beach is often safer a roadway landing. The least safe is ditching in rough seas in the middle of the ocean, but even that has a surprisingly high survival rate. Pilots don't always know this, and sometimes give up, not knowing that if they glide the airplane carefully down to the water, their chances of living are pretty good.

[-] SteveTech@programming.dev 4 points 5 months ago

then there's definitely the type of water ditching where the plane angles into the water at full speed, and I don't think that's gonna have 80%

Pretty sure last time that happened it was still ~30%, which seems pretty impressive considering the video: https://youtu.be/w1u0D0E-Bq0 (SFW but it is a plane crashing)

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961