Plane land in water?

Question

can a boeing 767 or 77 or any plane land in water wihout being broken apart? what are the odd sof it not breaking apart?

Answer 1

chances are slim, since the engines would hit the water first, with the speed of the plane, as soon as the water hits the engins it would be like hitting a solid wall, and if the wings/engins didnt come off, the nose would dive down and snap the plane in half.

Answer 2

as an ex flight engineer i can help you with this!....im afraid to tell you that landing on water in anything but a very light small plane is almost certain disaster.   hitting water is like hitting concrete at the speed a plane would land at.....it would disentigrate on hitting the water.  surviving this is almost impossible

Answer 3

The odds are very high that an airliner of the 767,777 variety will break apart when they attempt to ditch on water.  In most cases an engine nacelle or wingtip will dig in at the last minute and flip the plane usually breaking it apart.  There have been very few sucessful water landings for large jet aircraft.

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Answer 4

I have to go along with "avaophg" on this one. AND I agree with her on " wishing people would not post answers here on subjects they know nothing about."

It is better to be thought stupid (on something you know nothing about) rather than opening your mouth and removing all doubt.

Answer 5

The Boeing 767 and 777 cannot land on water or else the plane will break apart however there are some planes designed to land on water they are called boat planes

Answer 6

Please refer to Aviophage's answer, she is absolutely right.

Remember that airplanes are pressurized.  That means they have a tendency to float when placed on water.  They are also very aerodynamic.  Water and air react very similarly at lower speeds, so the plane tends to act about the same in water as it does in air.

When an airplane ditches, it is intentionally landed in a very nose high attitude so that the hull acts as a keel.  It will eventually dip and the nose will duck under, but because it floats, the plane will pop back up.  Just recently an airliner (I think it was a 737 but I'm not positive) was ditched in the Indian Ocean.  The impact broke off the wings and engine fairings, but the aircraft actually floated there long enough for rescuers to completely evacuate the aircraft.

There were plenty of fatalities, however most of those were due to the passengers not wearing their seatbelts and being thrown forward.  There's a reason those signs exist.  It is also important to note that in this particular instance, the aircraft had been hijacked and the terrorist ran them out of fuel.  He was apparently fighting with the pilot for control of the plane, so it was not a "perfect" landing and actually impacted in a slight bank to the left.

The whole thing was captured on video.  You can clearly see an intact fuselage (sans wings) floating in the ocean while normal rescue operations are carried out by locals who witnessed the crash.

Answer 7

It is possible to survive a water landing in those large aircraft, though they would most likely break apart. Now, if the engines are wing mounted, this would greatly decrease chances that it would stay in one piece, because those engines would create a large amount of drag. However, if the engines are mounted on the fuseloge (like on a busines jet) it's much more likely to stay in one piece as they will not contact the water. Considering that the bottoms of most large airliners are relatively flat, they could quite easily skim the water, but the landing must be controlled.

But, in either case, if the pilot cannot maintain the airplane perfectly level, then the wings will be the same case and will also break apart upon hitting the water when landing.

Answer 8

Let me answer your question with another question. When was the last time you heard of a successful "splashdown"? Regardess of what the 'experts' say, these occurences usually end very badly. Sorry.

Answer 9

An airliner landing on water is very likely to break apart. A 767's engine is mounted low, below the wing. It will hit the water first and has a lot of drag when it comes into contact with the water so it is very likely to break.

On the other hand aircrafts like the DC-9 have their engines high at the aft of the fuselage so the aircraft's belly is smooth and more streamlined with the water. The aircraft will slide on the surface of the water. It could still break apart but there's more chance of survival.

Answer 10

A controlled landing, I suspect so (since they have all the emergency plans for water landings).   CRASHING, however, is another story... same as on land.  The problem with water would be getting back OUT of it again; normal jets have no way to taxi up to speed on water, and I don't know how well they float, to have a chance of getting towed or lifted out later.

Answer 11

no..it isn't designed to land on water. Take a million lbs of plane traveling at 150 mph.

Answer 12

Aircraft are not boats, or other water craft.  In a controlled water landing they would most likely stay afloat for 20-30 minutes; enough time to get everyone evac'd.

BTW, when you hear conspiracy theories, be they the Bermuda Triangle, or Amelia Earhart, you often hear stuff like, "they found NO wreckage".  The implication being that if the aircraft DID crash, they would be wreckage floating around.   Well, no kidding; especially in rough seas, it's likely the aircraft won't survive long-if at all.

Answer 13

Yes, they can.  Airliners are designed to be landed on water in a wide range of conditions, and the crew are trained to handle that situation in the unlikely event it should become necessary.

It is not difficult to make a controlled transition to water if you have control of the airplane.  The process is called "ditching."  The airplane would not "break apart," though it would not be able to fly again.  In most cases, it would float for an extended period of time, allowing an unhurried rescue of the passengers and crew by ships at sea.

This sort of situation is so rare, it has occurred less than a dozen times in the history of commercial aviation.  But injuries were kept to a minimum as a result of the high level of training of the crew.

I wish people would not post answers here on subjects they know nothing about.

===EDIT===

I would appreciate it if people who post this nonsense about airliners being so likely to "break up" in a water landing would also mention where in the world they got that idea.  Who told you it is so likely?  And who started this vicious rumor that an engine pod dipping into the water would "flip the airplane over?"

Please tell us where these ideas are coming from.  If such a catastrophe were so inevitable, why do the airlines spend so many millions of dollars training the crew to deal with the situation?

Old 747s and other types have been intentionally ditched, to provide data on the procedures and likely events.  One floated for 5 days off the CA coast, and had to be sunk by the Coast Guard because it was a hazard to navigation.  The airplane was completely intact at the end.  These machines are RUGGED!  They are not made of popsicle sticks.  And your crews are professionals who care about their passengers, and would not subject the public to the kind of dangers people are describing here.

Thank you all for considering the realities involved.