Emergency Procedure

[Pritch]

Question for the day,  departing the local airport rway 30 departure is out over the bay.  If god forbid an engine out occurs on takeoff its either going to be a water landing or mudflats depending on the tide.  Mudflats would be gear up landing, but what would be the best option for water landing.  Wheels up and skim or wheels down and ski across the water to loose energy.  3rd option is to land on the perpendicular freeway if speed and alt. allow. 

Pritch

[aggiepilot04]

Gear up, flaps at T/O, door open.

[steingar]

Freeway if you can miss the cars.  That way you don't get the pleasure of drowning upside down if you flip.

[Hank]

The general advice for a water landing is gear up, otherwise the nose gear can dig into the water (mud, soft ground) and flip the plane upside down. 

[dooleypster]

+1 for gear up and door open.

[Pritch]

Thanks for the replies, that's what my consensus but another fixed gear pilot thought that the gear down with absorb some of the energy.  I was in the school of gear up.

Pritch.

P.S.  Its 3.5 mile across the bay with 1/2 mile spit and then the Pacific Ocean in the attached picture

[Amelia]

Remind yourself that your insurance company owns the airplane as soon as engine quits. Gear UP for a water landing. Flaps. Unlatch door.. If time, steer gently at best glide speed toward shallow water. Fly airplane. Run abbreviated restart check,  mixture, prop, etc, boost on, switch tanks. Fly airplane. Declare emergency on last frequency. Fly airplane. Slowww down, settle right down, nose up, onto those nice soft mudflats.Fuel off, shut down, gracefully step onto wing, and wait for somebody in a shallow draft vessel to come pick you up. I am told most Mooney pilots survive a water landing. Hope not to find out the fun way.

[MIm20c]

I think you would be a lot better off using the plane as a ski to dissipate energy vs a wheel that could dig in. It’s one thing with tundra tires but with the small tires and higher speeds I would be a huge risk. 

[toto]

1 hour ago, Pritch said:

but another fixed gear pilot thought that the gear down with absorb some of the energy

@Buster1's book has a pretty comprehensive discussion on this topic.  Well worth a read.

[1964-M20E]

For years I flew out of KNEW Lakefront airport in New Orleans 36L or 36R engine out you are going swimming unless you are high enough to make the turn for me min 800 feet +.  I generally keep a PFD in my plane at all times unless I'm exclusively flying over desert.  Also don't forget to turn into the wind in that situation it will keep you closer to the runway.

I guess I would rather have water in front of me than trees or rough terrain.

 

[Hank]

31 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

For years I flew out of KNEW Lakefront airport in New Orleans 36L or 36R engine out you are going swimming unless you are high enough to make the turn for me min 800 feet +.  I generally keep a PFD in my plane at all times unless I'm exclusively flying over desert.  Also don't forget to turn into the wind in that situation it will keep you closer to the runway.

I guess I would rather have water in front of me than trees or rough terrain.

 

I'm not sure that a PFD will help you in Pontchartrain unless it comes with gator repellant and a trench gun with a large magazine . . . .

[HRM]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

...unless it comes with gator repellant and a trench gun with a large magazine . . . .

Good Jeez! Last week I thought about gators flying over Anahuac Bay and then this morning flying over the Neches River. Southeast Tejas is just crawling with gators. I imagine they would scatter when a Mooney plowed into the water, but it wouldn't take long for them to get curious.

[DAVIDWH]

When Sully landed in the Hudson, it was gear up. When the Mooney test pilot landed that beautiful new Acclaim on a suburban  street  in Florida after Sun and Fun it was gear up. ( I believe his comment was "He wanted to stop forward momentum as quickly as possible ".

However, if there is a West Texas highway in front of your glare shield, no cattle, plan Gear down might be in order.

Personally, over water it would be gear up, over land, like most things in life, it just depends.

 

[ArtVandelay]

When the Mooney test pilot landed that beautiful new Acclaim on a suburban  street  in Florida after Sun and Fun it was gear up. ( I believe his comment was "He wanted to stop forward momentum as quickly as possible ".

Anyone know if NTSB concluded their investigation of the Acclaim accident?

[Shiny moose]

Just ask your favorite float plane pilot, if on amphibious floats about landing in the water with the gear down. It's a big huge no-no. The drag caused by a gear hitting the water will likely cause the plane to flip over.


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[markejackson02]

When you leave the wheels down on water.

https://youtu.be/NBkzh0LKe5I

[Buster1]

Thanks for the support Toto.

If you haven't had a chance to check out my book, please do. I included some research on this subject. From old military T-34s (the tandem Bonanza basically) as well as some modern GA accidents, and research of decelerations in GA aircraft. The stats point to the facts that if you have the gear down during an off airport landing and you land on a soft surface (including water), the gear are going to "snag" and you will flip over or come to a very abrupt stop.

If you're still unconvinced, and think that you would like your landing gear to "shear off" thus absorbing some of the energy, let me ask you this:

You're driving down the road at highway speeds. Suddenly you go to brake and the brake pedal goes to the floor! You've lost your brakes in your trusty car! What is your plan for getting the thing stopped? Assume no parking or E-brake for the sake of argument.

Would you rather let the car coast to a stop? Or will you steer toward a light pole, hoping that it slows you down some by absorbing energy?

I'm guessing most of you would prefer the former, and try to avoid hitting light poles. But why is that? Why do you want to avoid light poles to slow you down?

Logically, you know that hitting a light pole in a car might bring you to a dead stop (emphasis on dead). Right? Some light poles might allow you to slow a little, shearing off and then you'd continue along slightly slower. But some light poles might not. So intuitively, you avoid light poles and let the car coast to a stop, thus "stretching out" the decelerative forces over TIME and DISTANCE.

It's the same thing in a plane (with typically less soft stuff inside, crumple zones, and airbags). The DATA points to stretching out the crash over TIME and DISTANCE (less instantaneous G) to optimize survival. 

Many other sources and authors have discussed this as well, and I include a bunch of it in my book. With a little data.

Seriously, I hope you check it out, and think about some of this stuff realistically as the OP has. It's a smart way to survival.

Thanks!

~Buster