Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Since I fly over water occasionally, I was wondering if anyone has ever ditched a Thorp, and if so, what was the result. Specifically, did it flip over on it's back.

I recall seeing an youtube video of an RV ditching in the water near a beach. He did a beautiful job of dragging his tailwheel in the water.....then when the mains hit the water, it immediately flipped.

I've never had to water land, but there was an old marine pilot at VDF years ago told me that the way you land in water is to slow down just above stall, dip one wing in the water. This will rotate the plane, and you will do a backwards slide in the drink. Supporting your back and prevents flipping over. Let me know if it works for you.

Guys,

We had a local WWII Beaufighter pilot, Howard Wainman give a talk about his experiences in the war and one of the topics was ditching the plane. He ditched his 3 times and was the only one to successfully do so. The Beaufighter had a really large wing root and when the plane would flip the pilot would get trapped underneath and drown. Howard said the trick was as Bill mentioned, to kick the rudder just before touch down to get the wheels or the wing to grab and spin the pane around backwards. The plane would dive tail first and pop up like a cork. The second time Howard ditched he only got his feet wet before a boat picked him up.

Jim

When it comes to a ditching (water landing in the airlines) you have to be prepared BEFORE it happens . For those of us that went thru military water survival most of us had the chance to experience the "helo dunker" at least once every four years no matter what type of aircraft you flew . The easy part (one of 4 trips on the E ticket ride) is to strap yourself into a seat and they just drop the gizmo into the water in the upright position . You unstrap and crawl out the nearest exit . Pretty simple but , "here's the rest of the story!" The 3rd and 4th "rides" you wear block out goggles so you have no visual reference to make your escape , if that's not enough the last trip in the fun zone you wear the block out goggles , they drop the dunker and then rotate the whole unit upside down ! Now you unstrap and using only your keen sense of direction you unstrap and make your way out , all the while getting kicked in the face and body by several flailing flight boots !

My point is , have a plan of action BEFORE you set out across the wet stuff , properly secure your gear so it doesn't become an obstacle AND brief your pax on what to do to make a successful egress . PANIC is NOT your friend ! >:( Clipping a wing or the gear might work ? It did for the aircraft in question . Will it work for a T-18...don't know . https://youtu.be/JvwXCKluUJc

If the you tube link doesn't work just go to you tube and type in helo dunker water survival and you will find more than enough videos to raise your awareness to new levels !

RB
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