You know how they have all those water landing safety features in jet airliners? I wanted to know, if a jet crash lands in water, won't it just break apart and most likely kill everyone on the jet? So are all those safety features just there to make people feel safe while flying over the ocean? Sorry if I offended anyone, I just wanted to know.
2007-10-09 14:40:07 · 20 answers · asked by Steftrix 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
=EDIT=
I'm actually not scared of being in a crash, I feel very safe in a plane, more so than the average person. I want to become a pilot if I can.
2007-10-09 16:15:21 · update #1
Please don't be concerned. First, when the flight attendant reading the safety card says "In the unlikely event of a water landing..." It really means UNLIKELY. It happens once every few years, or once in several million flights.
Second, the answer to your main question is YES, CERTAINLY. Airliners are very rugged, and your crew is thoroughly trained in safe procedures for water landings. The airplane can "ditch" safely and everybody can get out with no injuries.
So don't worry about it.
==Edit==
The first two answerers above are babbling about something they don't know anything about. The airplane will not break up, unless it was hit by a guided missile or something, which has never happened.
2007-10-09 14:46:59 · answer #1 · answered by aviophage 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
It all depends on how fast the aircraft is traveling when it hits the water. Depending on the aircraft there is a certain speed at which it will break into pieces upon impact. If the pilots are able to slow it down and make it more of a normal landing attitude as opposed to a crash landing then there is a huge chance that all the "water safety devices" will save the majority of people onboard.
2007-10-10 00:43:32 · answer #2 · answered by pilotjeannie89 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as long as it is under full control by the pilots a water landing
can be done in an emergency. the way modern aircraft are built some will survive better than others. the navy did have
2 jets that actually took off and landed in water. one was the
martin seamaster flying boat and the convair sea dart
experimental fighter. a good pilot can make a safe emergency water landing and if possible try to make a water landing near the shoreline to give all aboard their best chance
to survive the incident.
2007-10-11 18:50:02 · answer #3 · answered by reddogrollen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check some Videos of jets crashing on water
it goes to show that the design of the aircraft plays a part if you land safely or not , this it if your engines are below the wings and coming at an angle the drag of the engines will hit the water with enough pressure to rip the wings off and send the plane to a uncontrollable crash , but if your engines is above the wings then the plane will land safely as theres no drag under the smooth body. and the landing speed must be above stall speed but slow enough.
given theres minimal structural failure during the dive which is rare.
check if theres more for your investigation into this
2007-10-09 17:30:35 · answer #4 · answered by clifford c 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They dont really land its more of a crash but in a controlled ditch is much better than hitting a mountain or something. There have been sucessful controlled ditches and there have been times where jets overun the runway on takeoff or landing and hit the water. Many people have survived both of these situations and the life vest and other safety equitment were very important.
2007-10-09 15:49:30 · answer #5 · answered by Steven H 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Its possible, an African 767 "crashed" off of the coast. I call it a crash because the Hijackers were partially in control. In that accident 1/4 of the people survived but if the pilots would have had complete control it would have been better. Also many people inflated their life vests inside the aircraft which trapped them.
2007-10-10 02:09:58 · answer #6 · answered by Stephen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO wai lol , a plane will not break up or become a jigsaw puzzle unless its made to crash at a very high speed... pilots always do care and the speed is almost brought to nil when its abt to touchdown on water surface. it is pretty much safe but yeah the likes of it happening are very rare.
2007-10-09 21:50:30 · answer #7 · answered by darshsz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are examples of successful ditchings at sea.
A dramatic example was the ditching of a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767. True, most of the passengers were killed (the hijackers were apparently wrestling control with the pilots at the time of the crash, so it was hardly a controlled landing), but some survived.
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/26/comoros.crash/index1.html
2007-10-10 00:00:06 · answer #8 · answered by apollonius 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right, if a jet impacts the water it is likely to be moving at a speed where it is going to break up on contact, and there are movies of airliners going into the drink to back that up.
The saftey precautions are there to make you feel "safe". Plus, it is possible to survive a water crash landing, upon which a flotation device would be very useful.
2007-10-09 14:45:27 · answer #9 · answered by Nitro Pipes 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Hey Mike Tyson. So an airliner cant ditch in the water huh. Why has the navy then had to go out and sink no less than three of the floating suckers in the last fifteen years after they became hazards to navigation a couple of weeks after everybody climed into the rafts? You see one film of a screwed up crew bastardize a ditching in Africa and come to a conclusion such as yours? And you don't think the floatation devices work? hahahahahahahahahaha
2007-10-09 16:31:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋