Let me start with a confession: I have never ditched an airplane. I don’t have any plans to ditch an airplane. So what follows is theoretical, which may not always be the best way to fly. But pilots like to be prepared for whatever might happen, so some theory is important.
Aviation Safety ran an article, “Ten Myths About Ditching,” in 2002, and others since then, which contains a lot of information worth studying. It concluded that ditchings are generally survivable; that high-wing airplanes do slightly better than low-wings; that an airplane won’t nose over and become a submarine; many open-ocean ditchings are survivable; data doesn’t favor landing gear-up to landing gear-down; the airplane will probably float; ditching doesn’t take extraordinary skill; survival equipment might not be needed; multi-engine airplanes ditch; and a helicopter probably won’t sink like a stone.
