Cruisair buoyant??

A

Abisceglia

New member
Just completed emergency underwater egress training with the air search and rescue unit I fly with. Unfortunately for me I was seated at the front of the class and was selected by the instructor to run through what I would do in the event of an over water ditching scenario in my bird. Anyway, the question came up whether it was known if the cruisair would theoretically float due to the wood wing, I didn't know. The instructor suggested I try to find out everything and anything about this to help in the unlikely event... so anyone?
 
I would guess the buoyancy of the wood in the wing is easily negated by the steel fuse and metal motor, landing gear, blah blah.

However, the nature of the fairly tightly sealed compartments in the wing could easily keep the thing afloat. The question then becomes the integrity of those compartments after a ditching.

I flew in the Navy and have A LOT of water survival, ditching, egress, you name it training. The infamous dilbert dunker was a hoot!

Mike
 
I think most planes will float...depending on how they impact/land on the water. My CO was the first person to successfully ditch a fully loaded P3A. He did it in Subic Bay. The plane floated long enough for everyone to get out, except the navigator who died when the centerline bladder tank came thru the deck. He wasn't wearing his hard hat, and impacted the overhead.
Another P3 successfully ditched at night in the Bering Sea, and all survived the landing. However, the PPC who came out thru the cockpit overhead hatch, stood there and counted crew as they exited the plane. He jumped in to the water to swim to one of the life rafts and wasn't seen again. Two or three sensor operators died of hypothermia before they were all picked up by a Soviet trawler that they had previously ship rigged.
My point being that even a big hunk of aluminum, like a P3 will float. It's how you set it down.
 
Awesome discussion and examples gentlemen. Thank you! The intentions I described to the instructor were as seen in the Liberator/glider videos, a tail low drag into the water to slow the inertia. Let's hope I never have to try it.
Cheers
 
Amen to most of the above, ditto to the fellow Navy guys and all the fun I had in 30 + years of recurrent water survival. I never developed a liking for the helo dunker but the fixed wing "sled" was always a fun ride. My water experience in floatplanes (J-3s and C-120) and my own Volmer amphibian gave me great respect for the severe forces involved in any water landing, even when you want to!

Working with the Navy as an investigator, and also theFAA/NTSB for flying club mishaps and such, two things immediately spring to mind: (1) That heavy engine will VERY QUICKLY settle alarmingly nose down even if the airplane is bouyant and (2) your fuel tanks are terrific floats. Hopefully you went in the water with (a lot) less than full tanks.

P.S. Any time I'm flying over water I WEAR my PFD (four on board). There isn't much room in the cockpit for a rapid Clark Kent act and it could get mighty busy, mighty fast in an emergency. They're light and small and great insurance.
 
I had forgotten about the dilbert dunker. That was about a half century ago so I guess I can be excused for forgetting. I must say that the dunker helped me in my first solo flight when I (with no lessons) tried to get an amphib ultra light up on the step. It went from wallowing to flying in an instant, and I stuck a float tip into the water and flipped it over on its back. The water was warm and clear and I was used to snorkeling every day, so I unstrapped and swam out from all of the little wires that keep an ultralight together. My friends came roaring out in a dingy assuming I was dead, and I was sitting on the upside down floats cursing up a storm. It didnt do much to the plane, and we ran the engine a few hours later, but I never tried that stunt again. Live (if you are lucky) and learn. ____Grant.
 
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