Jujupilote wrote:
He slid nicely at the beginning and then the nose went down. Any idea why ?
Large drag force on the belly due to water could no longer be overcome by the elevator. He did a great job, though the outcome would not have been as tidy in a fixed gear 172 – lots of drag off fixed gear!
Looks like he was in shallow enough water for the nose gear to hit the bottom pretty quickly and prevent the flipping moment around the gear, so a/c remained upright. I think the video shows a distinct ‘jerk’ when this happened.
it’s an incredibly common assertion for pilots who have never studied ditching (i.e. the majority) that a fixed gear plane is bound to flip when ditching.
QED ;-)
The nosewheel digging in will make the aircraft more likely to flip, not less. The wheel digging into soft ground decelerates more than in water, and creates a pivot point for flipping.
Also, the aircraft in the video is a retractable with the gear up.
All this talk about vests and rafts and training courses. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we all had a bit more talent?
Like this historical figure..
Bonanza Pacific Ditching on tape
Pretty remarkable video. Can’t believe they were filming while standing on the wing of a sinking aircraft and de-briefing while floating in the ocean!
Someone ditched a plane in the pacific and caught it all on Smartphone video:
Google David Lesh before drawing too many conclusions… ;-)
Flight preparation: douze points, for having ‘seat cushions’ instead of swim vests on board while flying over water in an SEP.
Also, that flexibility of mind to grab the smartphone and film the whole event while holding on to these seat cushions to stay afloat: Nothing less than Big Hollywood Cinema, I’m impressed. Couldn’t have been written better in Bel Air.
What an a……
He found something in the fuel during preflight.
Then goes on to an air to air photo mission as planned, over a cold ocean (with a passenger). No survival equipment at all on board. Everything is on video and together with the ensuing coast guard helicopter rescue is then used for social media marketing. Interviews on news outfits follow etc…
The real hero is the phone. Without it they would be dead. And more importantly (it seems) he’d have no videos.
Wow. Just wow.
