Water Landings
 

I have to ask, is it realistic? Would be neat to be able to hop out into the drink after ditching!;)

Well Capt. Sully landed an Airbus in the Hudson river! I've simulated landing a single engine Cessna in the water..although I wasn't sure what my chances of survival were.
Also seen video of WWII fighters ditching in the water..sometimes they catch a wing and it rips the plane into a 360 or flips upside down as soon as it touches water!

Yes it is realistic, many WWII pilots had to ditch (land) in the water

the other day i saw this documentory who featured something amazing ( awfull if you think of it but yeah you know ). when the american fleet destoyed the carriers in the battle of midway (or was it coral sea), the japanese planes who lost their landing strip had to dich on the water, and this was recorded, and was a beutifull scene, where they were flying reaaaaaally slow, nose pitchd up, falling very softly and then when they hitted the watter BIIIIG splash, but then there it was the plane, intact like il2.

the awfull side of it was that apparentely they were left there for several days as shark food. :(

When I land on water, plane seems to sink without a trace straight away!

beaufighters were notorious for this - their bouyancy properties were appalling. bellying a hurricane on water was decidedly dangerous as well, owing to the large scoop underneath.

Maybe these sims are more up your alley?

http://www.subsim.com/index.php

Apparently ditching a Spitfire was a guaranteed way to an watery grave.

heh heh

ditching is a very hard thing to achieve, you need to kinda think like you would be landing with a seaplane, considering wind direction, waves etc..

sometimes there's no time for it of course, but doing it with a fixed landing gear is defo a suicide..

Best way is to get as close as possible to the surface, open your canopy and stall the plane on the water, scoops under the wings will stop the plane quick