"Flyingmonk" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe the floats were damaged, but remained in corrrect
position/alignment until the weight was applied on touchdown and it
gave way?

The report I saw said that the floatplane pilot noted the floats at an angle
before touchdown.

As far as the "hung it on a prop and 'three-pointed' it" goes...witness
accounts say that the floatplane bounced several times before coming to a
rest. It sounds to me like a classic example of the pilot continuing to fly
the airplane until it came to a stop, no matter what happened. This is, of
course, the text-book example of what one SHOULD do when landing, in an
emergency or otherwise.

I think it likely that the successful landing had less to do with a
particular choice of technique, and more to do with a pilot who kept his
wits about him and maintained control of the airplane as best he could, even
in an extremely difficult situation.

Pete