If you had an engine failure at night and you have the choice between an emergency landing into unknown terrain or to ditch (on a nearby lake or a river), which would you prefer?
Obviously the risk of hitting something when landing into unknown terrain is higher than when ditching – but does that outweigh the imminent risks of even a successful ditching that SAR will have a hard time finding you floating somewhere in the water and the risk of not making it swimming to the shore (most likely without a life vest, as you did not necessarily plan to fly over larger bodies of water)?
IMO ditching is preferable, unless you can find a lit airport. It depends how dark it is also. In the winter there is snow, and seldom pitch dark. You can “land” in a field covered with snow, and it is easy to see from forest and buildings.
Difficult choice. And obviously an armchair discussion on that is much easier than the actual situation.
If you have this choice, there is obviously enough light to differentiate between water and an empty field. That’s already good!
My armchair choice would be:
- If engine failure is high enough, I’d always go for an airfield. Even if it’s dark and I can’t manage to get lights on by radio, it still is a comparatively obstacle free area of land…
- River or lake if it is long enough (and no bridges over the river) to do a safe, long, landing attitude approach. Night landing on water is a glassy water landing in a floatplane. Therefore you need lots of space. Actually not many lakes in Germany that would qualify for that. At least when I’m not alone in the plane, life vests are not an issue, as they are always in the back and someone else could grab them.
- If no suitable water is available, I know that the second best alternative would be to go into woods! If you fly the plane into the crash and do as if you land on the treetops, the odds of survival are extremely high. And you can be very sure that there are no surprises as power lines, fences, rocks, etc.
Having said that: I can’t imagine to be that rational in such a situation…
I would choose waist deep water over forest or very rough ground. When flying a landplane, I would choose any ground over water whose characteristics are unknown. Being injured is a high risk for either event, being injured and immersed exponentially increases risk for you and passengers. If you think that you could ever ditch any plane (so all GA pilots who fly anywhere near water) take an underwater egress course, it’ll reshape your thinking about this quite a lot. If you ditch, the lifejackets which are not being worn at the time of the ditching will be 100% useless. If you end up in more than waist deep water without a lifejacket, your chances of surviving are very limited, and your chances of being found at night minute. You can survive lying on the ground injured and unconscious for quite a long time. In that condition, wearing a lifejacket, better, without the lifejacket, hopeless.
The last thing to consider is that when you have a serious injury in the water, infection is a very much higher risk, and that’s a much more serious event than it seems. The pilot who splashed us suffered infection in his broken leg, and they could not do the surgery to set the bones for nearly a month, waiting the healing of the infection first. He was four months healing well enough to walk on it. They pumped me full of antibiotics and I did not suffer serious infection. Surgery was complete on the fifth day, and I was walking a month earlier that he was. The doctor told me to aim for the salt water rather than fresh water next time, apparently it’s less likely to cause infection – who knew!
Now, in my older and wiser years, I night fly only routes I know have greater runs of reasonable landing areas (though it’s never perfect), and as high as practical to give me the greatest time to get it running again. I’m happier in the depths of winter, as all of the frozen lakes around me become decent forced landing areas.
What kind of night, what kind of plane – retractable or fixed gear ? Pitch black night or some light still available ?
A wooden Robin with an instructor and student was ditched in winter in the Cromarty Firth in Scotland. Engine failure due to a fly, in the carb from manufacture, blocking a jet.
The lifejackets were behind. They didn’t go for them due to fear the aircraft would sink, trapping them. There were nearby lights on oil rigs. There was an SAR helicopter on exercise nearby. The Instructor told me he was surprised at how warm he felt in the water, fully clad. Both swam for the nearby shore. The student drowned.
( The Instructor tried for firm mudflats, but it was high tide)
Gruesome story.
I agree, snowed land and/or clear moonlit nights change the picture entirely.
Maoraigh wrote:
The lifejackets were behind. They didn’t go for them due to fear the aircraft would sink, trapping them.
Why, oh why, didn’t they have the lifejackets donned from the beginning? In my opinions lifejackets in the back could just as well have been left at the airport.
Modern life jackets are very comfortable to wear so I always have them on when I fly. Not just when I plan to fly over water.
