![]() Incidentally, these are the parts that are very likely to be damaged during a water landing due to being either sensitive to damage, or the first ones to impact the water, or both. Normally, for a decommissioned aircraft the parts that are most likely to be reused are engines, auxiliary power units (APUs), avionics, system equipment, and landing gears. While in theory, this caveat opens a possibility to reuse a part of a ditched aircraft, in practice such cases are almost non-existent. The AICS then adds a caveat: “…unless its airworthiness status was re-established by an approved maintenance organization in accordance with the applicable airworthiness regulations,” leaving a possibility of re-use in a narrow case if the part is carefully inspected and found intact. Recently, those statements were phased out due to their various shortcomings and replaced by Accident/Incident Clearance Statement (AICS) – a form preferred by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and many national aviation authorities.īy signing an AICS the seller signifies that “Neither the aircraft, nor any part installed have been subjected to severe stress or heat (such as in a major engine failure, accident, or fire) or has been submersed in salt water,” – which, in theory – should prevent anybody from reusing the part (or the aircraft) that has been landed in an ocean at some point. Purchase and usage of such parts are actually illegal in many cases, as the seller of a certified aircraft part has to sign a Non-Incident statement clarifying that the part was not involved in any incident. The crash of American Airlines Flight 965 in 1995 resulted in the appearance of a large number of scavenged Boeing 757 components on the black market, prompting a harsh crackdown from aviation authorities. While this particular story is most likely untrue and no parts were reused, there are plenty of less prominent examples. Supposedly, the parts of the crashed Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar were used on other Eastern aircraft, leading to the appearance of deceased crew members' ghosts. This scenario is a subject of several prominent horror stories in aviation – such as the one with Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. If the landing is relatively smooth, a lot of parts remain intact (or at least appear so) hence, salvaging and reusing them is possible. But what about their parts? The parts problem ![]() ![]() So, with rare exceptions (more about them later) ditched airframes are not fit for restoration in any significant capacity. For example, the Boeing 737s of Miami Air Flight 293 and Air Niugini Flight 73 that ended up in the water in 20 respectively, were completely written off. Right across the pond, the visitors of South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum can witness the remains of Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R1 which crashed into Lake Ontario in 2005.īut if the accident was not remarkable enough, the airplane gets scrapped. N106US, ditched by Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger during the Miracle on the Hudson incident in 2009, was fished out of the Hudson River and now resides in Carolinas Aviation Museum. In the case that somebody recovers the sunken aircraft, two possible outcomes await it: it can be either recycled or put on display.Īircraft whose swimming attempts get noticed by the public usually end up at museums: the Airbus A320 No. So, even if recovered, it is not likely to fly again. Additionally, salt water is extremely corrosive and can quickly damage various sensitive components. The fuselage gets deformed and sometimes broken apart, if not during the landing, then shortly after it as the airplane sinks. Quite obviously, the plane gets heavily damaged after the water landing. The answer is complex and quite far from obvious. If the airline recovers its sunken plane, what is it going to do with it? What is the fate of ditched-and-recovered airplanes, and can they be restored to a flying condition? At least partially? As the attempts to assess the environmental damage and investigate the cause of the incident are underway, there is a chance the 737 is going to be lifted out of the water in the near future. The depth of the water at the point of landing was around 150 feet (approximately 46 meters) – a bit deep for a swim, but comparatively shallow for a rescue operation. They managed to land an aircraft with a double engine failure, on water, at night, and do it relatively smoothly. Both pilots were rescued and praised for their skilful handling of the incident. On July 2, 2021, a Transair Boeing 737 freighter got ditched in the water off the coast of Hawaii.
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