The pilot denies he ditched intentionally
Incidentally, Half Moon Bay was the origin airfield for the ill-fated Jessica Dubroff flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Dubroff
Some of my questions are answered in this account of a P210 ditching near Corsica: the pressurized aircraft stayed afloat longer, but for some reason touchdown deceleration was brisker.
Interesting video.
The speed with which the plane sunk is probably about right once the water reached the bottom of the open doors. Then it would have gone down fast. It would not have sunk this fast due to water coming in past the control linkages etc.
They were also obviously lucky to end up in what seemed like warm water, and a fast rescue.
Such a nice plane in the depth of the sea, quite a pity…
So, in my limited experience, I have never found anything but fuel when draining the sumps. To those with more years of flying, what would you do if you, like that guy, had to drain like 5 times to get rid of all the extra stuff he was finding?
I was left wondering what I would do. Sitting down on my chair instead of out on a ramp, with a planned flight, I tend to think I would call it quits after 2 or 3 sumps and have someone more experienced look at it. But if I was on the ramp, with a waiting passenger, would I shrug it off?
Drain until a couple come clear of water? That’s what I’ve done and never had an issue.
But it wasn’t water, it was particles. Would worry me more than water because it can clog things.
“what seemed like warm water, and a fast rescue.”
I’ve been privileged to fly out to Catalina Island, about 30 miles off Long Beach, several times. One time the local news in the capital, Avalon, reported an empty boat found aground with the engine running. A search discovered the owner clinging to a channel marker where he had been for 24 Hrs, unable to climb aboard because the buoy was inhabited by unfriendly Sea Lions!
Pilots in CA seem fairly nonchalant about life jackets despite FAA rules being more specific that our (UK) ones. I’ve not been able to find a source to hire them locally and had to bring them from UK, an adventure in itself!
The water near Half Moon Bay would typically be a lot colder than around Catalina, these people were lucky this occurred in summer.
