ditch and flip

What do you mean by 'ditch and flip'?

Do you mean when crashing the plane into water the drag in the gear
makes the plane 'trip' over itself and end up inverted?

How would you extricate yourself in this case if you have a tip-up canopy?

Is there a difference between ditching a tricycle gear vs. a tail
dragger into water? Which would be safer?

Thanks,
Nagita

-- Nagita Karunaratne, August 24, 2007

Answers

By "ditch and flip" I did mean that the fixed gear would cause the airplane to flip over and land on its back in the water. How would you extricate yourself? That's a good question! Probably you'd have to crack it open before landing. I don't think tail-dragger versus tricycle gear is different. Retractable gear is better, obviously, if you're going to land on the water.

-- Philip Greenspun, September 19, 2007