Kinda morbid I guess, big iron enroute ditching

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 23:59:41 -0700, hillbilly_hippo nmonkeyTAKEOUTSPAM@
whidbey.net wrote:
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777. While reading, I began
to wonder. How many larger (Boeing, Airbus etc) airliners have ditched while
enroute without massive casualties. Maybe I'm just not well informed, but I
haven't heard a single story of a non-disasterous enroute big iron
ditching...

Well, any airliner ditching is a bit of a disaster, even if no one dies.

There was a Boeing Stratocruiser which went down in the Pacific many
years ago with very few casualties or loss of life. There was also a
Boeing 707 more recently which crashed in Lake Victoria in Africa
in a CFIT accident. The 707 remained largely intact (the landing gear
came off, and so did a couple of engines). There are photographs of
the 707 on a few websites if you do some Googling around.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Try here.
http://www.jacdec.de/J_report-00stapy.htm

mike regish

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 23:59:41 -0700, hillbilly_hippo nmonkeyTAKEOUTSPAM@
whidbey.net wrote:
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I
came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777. While reading, I
began
to wonder. How many larger (Boeing, Airbus etc) airliners have ditched
while
enroute without massive casualties. Maybe I'm just not well informed, but
I
haven't heard a single story of a non-disasterous enroute big iron
ditching...

Well, any airliner ditching is a bit of a disaster, even if no one dies.

There was a Boeing Stratocruiser which went down in the Pacific many
years ago with very few casualties or loss of life. There was also a
Boeing 707 more recently which crashed in Lake Victoria in Africa
in a CFIT accident. The 707 remained largely intact (the landing gear
came off, and so did a couple of engines). There are photographs of
the 707 on a few websites if you do some Googling around.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"hillbilly_hippo" wrote in message ...
Just thinking (I dunno why).....
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards,

http://www.airtoons.com/toons.php?toon=12

It would be hard to imagine a mechanical problem that would cause a
777 to need to be ditched in the ocean.

"hillbilly_hippo" wrote in message ...
Just thinking (I dunno why).....
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777. While reading, I began
to wonder. How many larger (Boeing, Airbus etc) airliners have ditched while
enroute without massive casualties. Maybe I'm just not well informed, but I
haven't heard a single story of a non-disasterous enroute big iron
ditching...

Just wondering (yet again...)

John Y.
PP-ASEL

that triggered in my mind the scene from the movie fight club where they
replaced those cards, (of people calmly putting on their masks and life vests),
with the same laminated cards - but the clip art people are screaming in terror
and the plane is in flames.

While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777.

Someone ditched a cargo 707 in Lake Victoria a few years ago, there are
pictures
somewhere on the net (actually he messed up an approach, but the plane was
still structurally intact and the crew survived).

The Air India plane was most likely a bomb - not familiar with the SAA
incident.

John

"pac plyer" wrote in message
...
"hillbilly_hippo" wrote in message
...
Just thinking (I dunno why).....
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I
came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777. While reading, I
began
to wonder. How many larger (Boeing, Airbus etc) airliners have ditched
while
enroute without massive casualties. Maybe I'm just not well informed,
but I
haven't heard a single story of a non-disasterous enroute big iron
ditching...

Just wondering (yet again...)

John Y.
PP-ASEL

John you nailed it. Swept-wing jets are not survivable in most
ditching senerios because of the 150-kt speed (ballpark approach.) We
laugh every year at the ridiculous raft training and sea survival gear
we haul around, knowing that even if you survived like they did in the
Eithiopian A310, your chances of being able to find the liferaft when
the floor distorts and breaks apart are poor. In that accident, just
like the UAL Soiux City DC10 crash, the main reason there were
survivors was because energy was disipated by the jet cartwheeling and
shedding structure progressively; wings, tail, engines. The 747 is
designed to shear the pod engines in a water landing. But ALL the
known 747 ditchings were unsucessful. Air India and South African
Airways were never even found. This is a carry-over by the FAA regs
from straight-wing days. Water evac only comes into play in a runway
overrun event.

damn good question,

pacplyer

In article , "Ron
Natalie" wrote:

and then there was the hijacked 767 that ran out of fuel and ditched
just offshore of some country in S. America (iirc).

I believe you are talking about the hijacked Ethiopian Airlines 767 that
crashed near the Comoros islands in the Indian ocean. There's actually
footage of the "landing" floating [pun not intended} around out there.

ah ha. So I didn't recall correctly, eh?

--
Bob Noel

tom hanks also surived a ditching in his fed-ex jet! managed to inflate a life
raft and avoid being eaten by a still running engine.

so did wilson

(sorry for the movie references. bored at work)

In article ,
kcuspam (Tune2828) wrote:

tom hanks also surived a ditching in his fed-ex jet! managed to inflate
a life
raft and avoid being eaten by a still running engine.

so did wilson

ultimately Wilson didn't survive to be rescued.

--
Bob Noel

Tune2828 wrote:

tom hanks also surived a ditching in his fed-ex jet! managed to inflate a life
raft and avoid being eaten by a still running engine.


Hollywood makes it very hard to suspend disbelief sometimes. I never can
tell if it's out of stupidity and ignorance, or just to enhance the
dramatic effect.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

"Cartoons with a Touch of Magic"
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

Arnold for Governor!
http://www.wizardofdraws.com/store/terminator.html