Someone ditched a cargo 707 in Lake Victoria a few years ago, there are
pictures
somewhere on the net (actually he messed up an approach, but the plane was
still structurally intact and the crew survived).

The Air India plane was most likely a bomb - not familiar with the SAA
incident.

John

"pac plyer" wrote in message
...
"hillbilly_hippo" wrote in message
...
Just thinking (I dunno why).....
While reading through my collection of airliner safety cards, I
came
across the overwater ditching procedures for the 777. While reading, I
began
to wonder. How many larger (Boeing, Airbus etc) airliners have ditched
while
enroute without massive casualties. Maybe I'm just not well informed,
but I
haven't heard a single story of a non-disasterous enroute big iron
ditching...

Just wondering (yet again...)

John Y.
PP-ASEL

John you nailed it. Swept-wing jets are not survivable in most
ditching senerios because of the 150-kt speed (ballpark approach.) We
laugh every year at the ridiculous raft training and sea survival gear
we haul around, knowing that even if you survived like they did in the
Eithiopian A310, your chances of being able to find the liferaft when
the floor distorts and breaks apart are poor. In that accident, just
like the UAL Soiux City DC10 crash, the main reason there were
survivors was because energy was disipated by the jet cartwheeling and
shedding structure progressively; wings, tail, engines. The 747 is
designed to shear the pod engines in a water landing. But ALL the
known 747 ditchings were unsucessful. Air India and South African
Airways were never even found. This is a carry-over by the FAA regs
from straight-wing days. Water evac only comes into play in a runway
overrun event.

damn good question,

pacplyer