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Originally Posted by broke
If you think a jet ditching could ever be construed as a landing let alone a successful one, you're a fool. Same kind of dope that tells me to put on my life vest to jump into the North Atlantic in the event of a ditching... I mean "water landing".
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not a fool. just a pilot for 20 years.
jets rarely ditch in the ocean. but if they do they are equipped with life rafts and fly "great circle routes" with specified altitudes and calculated engine out glide ratios to minimize the chance of a water ditching. there are no single engine airlines, and these aircraft can remain aloft losing half their engines.
when you fly to london from NYC you are mostly gliding distance to land the entire distance. same with chicago to tokyo.
when lindbergh flew the spirit of st.louis to paris he was over land most of the time. airlines do something similar as geography permits.
there is a reason airplanes don't go down in the middle of the ocean much. but if you must ditch in the ocean make sure you know how to put on your life vest---how to inflate it, and how to use the blow tube, and the emergency light. it is designed to save your life. there are lots of safety measures but lack of knowledge kills plenty of people when things go wrong.