INTRODUCTION: Although an unintended aircraft landing on water (referred to as ditching) is a rare event, the potential for occupant injury/fatality increases immediately following the event due to adverse conditions. However, to date, few studies have addressed the subject. Herein, ditching events and post-ditching survival were investigated.

METHODS: Ditchings (1982–2022) in the United States were identified from the National Transportation Safety Board database. Occupant injury severity, aircraft type, pilot experience, flight conditions, and number of occupants were extracted. Poisson distribution, the Chi-squared test (2-tailed), Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were employed.

RESULTS: A total of 96 ditchings were identified. A systematic survey was hampered by the lack of a standardized reporting matrix in the reports. In total, 77 reports were included in the analysis. Across all ditchings, 128 of 169 (76%) occupants survived ditching and were rescued. Importantly, the initial ditching event was survived by 95% of all occupants. However, 32 (19%) occupants died post-ditching by drowning (21/32 cases) or for undetermined reasons. Considering probability per ditching event, in 26 (34%) of all ditchings, one or more occupants was/were fatally injured.

DISCUSSION: Initial survival of the emergency ditching is high. Drowning was the leading cause of death after ditching and reduced the overall survival to 76%. Further investigation is needed to identify risk factors for fatal outcomes and/or improve probability of survival after ditching.

Schick VC, Boyd DD, Hippler C, Hinkelbein J. Survival after ditching in motorized aircraft, 1989–2022. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2024; 95(5):254–258.