Ditching Gear Down

On Sun, 05 Oct 2003 17:18:21 GMT, "william cogswell"
wrote:


"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
news:blosl3$jie$1

"QDurham" wrote in message
...
How do you put 'her' down?

It seems to have happened to 3 ex FAA aircrew yesterday
when they had to ditch their Cessna 172 after its engine
failed over the Western Channel

All 3 were picked up by a fishing boat and one reported having
to make an underwater escape from the sinking aircraft

Given that the youngest of them was 79 they did rather well

I alos seem too have seen some footage of several cessna 172 type a/c
ditching, The one that stands out the gentelman made a beautiful ditching
the a/c pitched forward but reamained upright for several minutes

Of course now you can buy a chute for your AIRPLANE! I don't know if
any of you have seen them, but they mount on top of the wing, and are
controlled from the cockpit. They were originally designed for Cessna
drivers going over the Sierra, where the "margin for error" is about
zero. If used by someone flying over water they would allow for a zero
airspeed ditching.

Al Minyard