Airlines stay prepared for landings on water
Q: Why do airlines on domestic flights carry life vests, with all the extra weight that entails? In all the millions of flights, can you think of a single survivable event, except the so-called Miracle on the Hudson, where life vests might have helped?
— Simon, Pasadena, Calif.
A: Airplanes often fly domestic and overwater flights in the same day. One of the NTSB recommendations from the accident in the Hudson was to have all airliners have life vests available for passengers due to the large number of lakes and other bodies of water over which airplanes fly.
Q: How do airlines make emergency landings in water?
— Gale Carter, N.C.
A: The landing gear remains retracted, flaps are selected to an intermediate or full extension depending on the type of airplane, and touchdown is at the lowest possible airspeed flying parallel to the waves.
Q: After the Hudson landing, there was talk that had there been enough time to follow through the whole procedure and reach the ditch mode, the plane would have been sealed to enable it to remain afloat. Is this true?
— Aaron Heskel
A: US Airways 1549 was an Airbus A320, which has a ditching switch that closes the outflow valves to reduce water inflow following a ditching. There was not time for the flight crew to complete all of the checklists before they landed in the water; the ditching switch was not pressed. During the impact with the water, there was damage to the belly causing one or more holes in the skin. Water was entering the fuselage regardless of the position of the ditching switch, so the airplane was going to sink eventually.