Emergency landing theoretical

"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Within about 5 seconds of stopping in the water, you will be going the
same relative ground speed, (down stream) no matter which way you land. A
few knots, of drifting current speed, hitting a sudden stop on land is not
going to hurt very much.

If you are talking about decelerating from 60 knots, landing with the
current of 5 knots means you are only touching down at 55 knots. Landing
against the current means you are touching down at 65 knots. That 10
knots sounds significant, to me.

It is, and in many cases the current is more than 5 knots, making an even
bigger difference.

Your analysis is correct, and barring any other issues, downstream is better
than upstream.

Of course, the chance of a messy landing is significant in any case. But
you want to give yourself the least chance of a messy landing, and lowest
water speed is the way to go for that (ie, downstream).

The situation in this particular instance may warrant a different decision,
of course. Since there's a particular location from which the original
poster is departing, and since the river has a specific configuration both
upstream and downstream from that location, and since there may be a more
desirable ditching area upstream than downstream, it's entirely possible
that in that situation specifically, upstream is preferable.

Pete

Pete
You hit the nail on the head. Winds in the gorge are often in excess of
50 mph and flow with the current direction 90% of the time. It is a
wide river mostly flowing east to west with some pretty steep terrain
on either side. An interstate runs parallel on the south side, and a
major highway of varying 2-4 lanes on the north as well as the
railroad.
I spoke too quickly in landing direction but most of my potential
landing sites were in steep terrain with a lot of rapids and you sure
didn't want to go downstream like a leaky poorly designed canoe!
Most of the time, if there is a current flowing, I've landed seaplanes
upstream to use the idle speed as a brake for sailing and docking.
Probably more important than current is wind direction except in
special circumstances.
Cheers
Rocky

Let's assume the wind and current are the same directon. When the wind
speed exceeds the current speed, then the lowest speed relative to the
water is landing with the wind (which is upstream).

"Doug" wrote in message
ups.com...
Let's assume the wind and current are the same directon. When the wind
speed exceeds the current speed, then the lowest speed relative to the
water is landing with the wind (which is upstream).

Most of us use the phrase "with the wind" to describe a downwind direction.
"Into the wind" would be upwind (and upstream).

Assuming you've simply misphrased your statement, and you meant to write
"landing into the wind", then yes, you're correct. A wind in the same
direction of and in excess of the current speed would result in a lower
water speed landing into it, upwind rather than downwind (and upstream
rather than downstream).

Which is essentially what Rocky wrote (ie "more important than current is
wind direction").

Pete