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Successful water landing

Your ping pong ball weights are off by a factor of 10...........

So everything is 10 times heavier.


The air / helium weight is now insignificant.
 
I did fill part of the wing interior with foam which is not expanding at altitude, doesn´t absorb water and has reasonable resistance to fire and producing smoke. I put about 22 lbs into the wings which gave me around 1050 lbs additional buoyancy in addition to the displaced water from the airframe, engine, prop, tires and anything forward of the wing trailing edge. I calculated that at least the rear fuselage and tail feathers would remain above the water level.
I too was thinking about table tennis balls. They are heavier and the foam would fill the whole space compared to the balls.

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yes, into the wind. he used every advantage. he is probably not an average pilot. he must be a CFI or a sailplane pilot.

If you are truly keen to get experience landing on water, next time you attend "sun and fun " in Florida, plan well ahead and contact Harry Shannon at Amphibians Plus.

https://www.amphibiansplus.com

The Lake LA-4-200 is the only Amphibian I am aware of that allows for FULL STALL / stick the tail into the water first landings. In fact it is practiced as part of the type rating for the LA-4-200. ( The big brother LA-250 is NOT strong enough in the hull and this is a prohibited landing for almost all other sea planes or float planes)

The most dangerous water landing would be totally calm glassy water as it can be virtually impossible to see the surface.

Having flown a few RV's and the LA-4-200 I personally would opt for the full stall stick the tail in the water in an RV, but I think it would go a lot better with a few demo stall landings in a Lake 200 with Harry. It is not a matter of holding it off a few inches and letting it stall. In the Lake it is a bail out option for hitting a boat wake on take off or landing on really rough water where you might get launched 10 -20 ft vertically in either scenario without flying speed. Think of a sparrow or crow flaring and pulling up to set on a fence post.

In any case the pilot in the RV6-A did a fine job and it is really great to see an upright ditching result.
 
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Wolfgangsee Splash

https://youtu.be/XqtmCh_PFGE

I think Wolfgang might have seen the water a moment too late. It really shows how dangerous glassy water is, ( difficult to judge your distance above it )

The gear in the Extra 300 is designed to shear off, similar to a Stearman biplane.

RVs on the other hand are not designed to let the legs wipe off or fold back, so I don't think this video would be a viable technique for ditching an RV
 
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