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Survival rates of passenger plane water ditchings
In all cases where a passenger plane has undergone an intentional water landing or ditching, some or all of the occupants have survived. Examples of water landings in which passengers survived are:

On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 (an Airbus A320) successfully ditched into the Hudson River in New York City, after reports of multiple bird strikes. All of the 155 passengers and crew aboard escaped and were rescued by passenger ferries and day-cruise boats, in spite of freezing temperatures (the ditching occurred near the Circle Line and NY Waterway piers in midtown Manhattan only a few thousand feet away).[7] The survival rate was 100%.
On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153 (an ATR 72) ditched off the Sicilian coast after running out of fuel. Of 39 aboard, 20 survived with injuries including serious burns. The plane's wreck was found in three pieces. The survival rate was 59%.
On 4 December 2004, a Miami Air Lease Convair CV-340 ditched into Mall Lake, Florida. Both occupants survived. The survival rate was 100%.
On 16 January 2002, Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 (a Boeing 737) successfully ditched into the Bengawan Solo River near Yogyakarta, Java Island after experiencing a twin engine flameout during heavy precipitation and hail. The pilots tried to restart the engines several times before making the decision to ditch the aircraft. Of the 60 occupants, one, a flight attendant, was killed. The survival rate was 98%.[8] Photographs taken shortly after evacuation show that the plane came to rest in knee-deep water.[9]
On 3 February, 2000, Trans Arabian Air Transport Flight 310 (a Boeing 707-351(C)) carrying cargo grossly overshooted the landing strip at Mwanza Airport after a first attempt failed and eventually landed in the middle of Lake Victoria. The plane continued floating after the landing and all five crew survived, some with light injuries.[10]
On 23 November 1996, Ethiopian 961 (a Boeing 767-200ER) ditched in shallow water 500 meters from land after being hijacked and running out of fuel. Unable to operate flaps, it impacted at high speed, dragging its left wingtip before tumbling and breaking into three pieces. The panicking hijackers were fighting the pilots for the control of the plane at the time of the impact, which caused the plane to roll just before hitting the water, and the subsequent wingtip hitting the water and breakup are a result of this struggle in the cockpit. Of 175 on board, 52 survived. Some passengers were killed on impact or trapped in the cabin when they inflated their life vests before exiting. Most of the survivors were found hanging onto a section of the fuselage that remained floating. The survival rate was 26%.
On 2 May 1970, ALM Flight 980 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33CF), ditched in mile-deep water after running out of fuel during multiple attempts to land at Princess Juliana International Airport on the island of Saint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles under low-visibility weather. Of 63 occupants, 40 survivors were recovered by U.S. military helicopters.[11] The survival rate was 63%
On 21 August 1963, an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-124 ditched into the Neva River after running out of fuel. The aircraft floated and was towed to shore by a tugboat which it had nearly hit as it came down on the water. The tug rushed to the floating aircraft and pulled it with its passengers near to the shore where the passengers disembarked onto the tug; all 52 on board escaped without injuries.[12] The survival rate was 100%
In October 1956, Pan Am Flight 943 (a Boeing 377) ditched northeast of Hawaii, after losing two of its four engines. The aircraft was able to circle around USCGC Pontchartrain until daybreak, when it ditched; all 31 on board survived.[13][14] The survival rate was 100%.
In April 1956, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (also a Boeing 377) ditched into Puget Sound after the flight engineer forgot to close the cowl gills on the plane's engines. All aboard escaped the aircraft after a textbook landing, but four passengers and one flight attendant succumbed either to drowning or to hypothermia before being rescued. The survival rate was 87%.
On 19 June 1954, a Swissair Convair CV-240 ditched into the English Channel. All three crew and three of the five passengers survived. The survival rate was 75%.
16 April 1952, de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover.

Posted By: SCC 28 on January 16th 2009 at 09:35:27

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