Replies to post #71592 on Biotech Values

[Biowatch]

WAG Wings full of fuel at take-off. Fuel approx 6 lbs/gallon, water 8 lbs/gallon, hence some bouyancy there until the fuel leaks out and water seeps in. Plus some pockets of air hither and yon. And so forth...

Salt water is even denser than fresh water, so to whatever degree the Hudson contains salt water makes it that much denser than Av gas.

Great job by the pilot, who apparently walked the length of the interior cabin TWICE to make sure all souls on board were clear of the aircraft after landing in the water, and to all the crew and passengers for keeping their heads in freezing conditions in a situation that could have turned out far worse. Also, congratulations to the ferry boat pilots who showed up within minutes to help evacuate passengers.

New York, New York...

[steveporsche]

The picture you posted was the plane after it was towed back to a Hudson river dock. It is probably touching river bed there and thus only partially submerged. Where it ditched, the river depth was about 60 feet. When the pilot decided to ditch - he hit a "ditch" switch which helps seal up the bottom of the plane in water. His landing was so smooth that he did not cause any cracks to the fuselage. He cleared the George Washington bridge by about 900 feet. If you look closely at the footage - you can see that the Ferries/NYPD/NYFD had the plane secured with straps to keep it from sinking shortly after the crash. So a beautiful landing and quick response kept the plane afloat after the first few minutes. There was plently of water in the plane during most of the rescue and it would have gone down quickly without quick action.

[jackrmormon]

OT Plane Crash.

I would suspect planes have bulkheads like ships. A breach in the skin might quickly flood the cargo hold but it would take a while for the water to work its way into other compartments of the plane.

[quantumdot]

OT - Plane in water. Aircraft are positive pressure vessels. They leak all the time but generate internal cabin pressure (so "leak" outward.) When the pressure hull is broken, in this case when pilot depressurises passenger cabin for ditch and ultimately when doors opened it is no longer a pressure vessel and becomes simply a well sealed heavy object. Time, wave action, water entering through doors etc will take it down sooner (or later) depending on many variables.