Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Water Entry of an Airliner

O n March 8, 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared less than an hour after take-off on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The Boeing 777-200ER carried twelve crew members and 227 passengers. On March 24 the Malaysian Prime Minister announced that “It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that ...Flight MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.” Though the exact fate of Flight MH370 remains undetermined, the available evidence indicates a crash into the ocean. However, disturbing as this is, not all emergency water landings, referred to as “ditching” when they are controlled, end in tragedy. In the “Miracle on the Hudson,” on January 15, 2009, Capt. Chelsey B. “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320200, in the Hudson River after a loss of power due to a bird strike on take-off from La Guardia Airport. There was no loss of life. Figure 1 and the video animation referenced on the second page of this article show our “representation” of a commercial airliner, a Boeing