Many Have Survived Plane Ditching Into Water Before
Posted January 15, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are thankfully very few times when a plane has ditched into the water, and some pilots don’t even train for the eventuality. Luckily for the passengers onboard a U.S. Airways Airbus A320, the man in their cockpit was well versed in what to do.
It’s believed his actions helped save the lives of all the passengers and crew when the jet plunged into the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York City Thursday afternoon.
It seems almost counterintuitive, but many of the water landings in the past have also resulted in many – if not all – of the passengers emerging alive. The water may seem like a dangerous place to ditch a plane, but it’s far safer than a crash on land, which may result not only in a fire but death for bystanders.
Here’s a look at some water ditchings of the past that had at least some relatively happy endings.
1956
A Pam Am Boeing 377 loses four engines over the Pacific and falls into the ocean in the middle of the night. It manages to stay afloat until the sun comes up, allowing all 31 on board to be rescued.
1956
A Northwest Orient plane is forced to drop into the water in Washington’s Puget Sound due to a mistake by one of the crew members surrounding the craft’s engines. Five people die in the water from drowning or hypothermia but 33 others onboard escape with their lives.
1963
An amazing story of survival that echoes what happened in New York City. A Russian Aeroflot plane, running low on fuel and with 52 people on board, avoids hitting a tugboat as it plunges into the Neva River. The little ship chugs to the rescue and saves all those on board. Incredibly everyone escapes without injury.
1970
An ALM DC-9 ran out of fuel after making numerous attempts to land in low visibility on the island of St. Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles. It plunged into water that was several kilometres deep and rescue helicopters rushed to the scene. Forty of the 63 onboard lived to tell the tale.
1996
A hijacking led an Ethiopian 767 to run out of fuel and fall into shallow water, not far from shore. The plane broke into three pieces as the commandeers and the pilots fought with each other, causing the craft to roll. There were 175 passengers on board during the terrifying incident. Just 52 survived, mostly by hanging on to the broken pieces of fuselage.
2002
A Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737 experiences an engine flameout in terrible weather on Yogyakarta, Java Island. As hail and rain pour down and with the pilots unable to restart the motors, they’re forced to hit the water. There were 60 people on board, but only one, a flight attendant, was killed. One reason for the survival rate – the plane remained intact and wound up in depths that were about knee-deep.
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