As an international ferry pilot, I haven't ever ditched (sound of
knuckles rapping wooden desk), but obviously I've given it a lot of
thought and researched as many articles and accounts as I could find.
I'd suspect that Europa would probably float rather more
nose-down than the Grob: about the same engine weight, but a lighter tail
(and not nearly so far aft!) to balance it. I'd also suspect that the
fuselage would fill fairly rapidly via the wheel well.
The big question is, "what happens as the wings fill, and how
long will that take?" Assuming they're pretty well sealed (silicon?) at
the root, they'll probably fill rather gradually via the aileron
bellcrank on the wing itself, plus around the inboard aileron connection
once the fuselage has filled to that point. Based on the behavior of
some scraps in a bucket, the foam itself will take a very long time to
"waterlog"--I think hypothermia will probably set in sooner!
It would also be very interesting to find out whether, once the
airplane has come to rest nose down in the water, how high the bottom
front corner of the door is above the surface--i.e., will the wretched
thing swamp immediately one opens a door to get out?
My "gut level" feeling is that it'll initially float pretty high
for a few moments, probably about 30 deg. nose down, then gradually
settle as the fuselage fills to about mid-chest height--at the same time
perhaps getting a bit less nose down. I don't think I'd want to stay
aboard very long.
We plan to bring our Europa to Europe in a couple of years, and
of course we'll have an adequate life raft as well as full immersion
suits. An extra fuel tank will go into the baggage compartment; we'll
ship all our personal baggage across (maybe to Wombleton?), and basically
travel with just a toothbrush (shared) and a credit card (to buy
toothpaste at each overnight stop!).
I sincerely hope all this information is totally unnecessary!
Peter Lert, US037
|