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Inaviation, awater landing is, in the broadest sense, anaircraft landing on abody of water.Seaplanes, such asfloatplanes andflying boats, land on water as a normal operation.Ditching[1] is a controlledemergency landing on the water surface in an aircraft not designed for the purpose, and it is a very rare occurrence.[2]Controlled flight into the surface and uncontrolled flight ending in a body of water (including arunway excursion into water) are generally not considered water landings or ditching, but are considered accidents.[3] Most times, ditching results in aircraft structural failure.
Seaplanes,flying boats, andamphibious aircraft are designed totake off and land on water. Water-landing can be supported by a hull-shapedfuselage and/orpontoons. The availability of a long effective runway was historically important on lifting size restrictions on aircraft, and their freedom from constructed strips remains useful for transportation to lakes and other remote areas. The ability to loiter on water is also important for marine rescue operations andfire fighting. One disadvantage of water alighting is that it is dangerous in the presence ofwaves. Furthermore, the necessary equipment compromises the craft's aerodynamic efficiency and speed.[4][5]
Early crewedspacecraft launched by the United States were designed to alight on water by thesplashdown method. The craft wouldparachute into the water, which acted as a cushion to bring the craft to a stop. Alighting over water rather than land madebraking rockets unnecessary, but its disadvantages included difficult retrieval and the danger of drowning. The NASASpace Shuttle design was intended to land on arunway instead. TheSpaceX Dragon uses water landings, and has carried crew since 2020.[6][7]
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While ditching is extremely uncommon in commercial passenger travel, small aircraft tend to ditch slightly more often because they usually have only one engine and their systems have fewer redundancies. According to theNational Transportation Safety Board, there are about a dozen ditchings per year.[8] Reasons for ditching vary, but the most common areengine failure,flat spin, andpilot error.[citation needed]
General aviation includes all fields of aviation outside of military or scheduled (commercial) flights. This classification includes small aircraft, e.g., training aircraft, airships, gliders, helicopters, and corporate aircraft, includingbusiness jets and other for-hire operations. General aviation has the highest accident and incident rate in aviation, with 16 deaths per million flight hours, compared to 0.74 deaths per million flight hours for commercial flights (North America and Europe).[9]
In the United States, theFAA does notrequire commercial pilots to train to ditch but airline cabin personnel must train on the evacuation process.[10] In addition, the FAA implemented rules under which circumstances (kind of operator, number of passengers, weight, route) an aircraft has to carry emergency equipment including floating devices such aslife jackets andlife rafts.
Some aircraft are designed with the possibility of a water landing in mind.Airbus aircraft, for example, feature a "ditching button" which, if pressed, closes valves and openings underneath the aircraft, including the outflow valve, the air inlet for the emergencyRAT, the avionics inlet, the extract valve, and the flow control valve. It is meant to slow flooding in a water landing.[11]
 | It has been suggested thatthis list besplit out into a new article titledList of aircraft ditchings. (Discuss)(January 2025) |
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| Date | Aircraft | Occupants | Fatalities | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 January 1923 | Aeromarine 75 | 9 | 4 | AnAeromarine AirwaysAeromarine 75 had to ditch into theAtlantic Ocean when theflying boat suffered engine issues. 5 of the 9 people on board survived.[12] |
| 21 October 1926 | Handley Page W.10 | 12 | 0 | AnImperial AirwaysHandley Page W.10 (G-EBMS) ditched into theEnglish Channel after suffering an engine failure. All 12 people on board survived.[13] |
| 17 June 1929 | Handley Page W.10 | 13 | 7 | AnImperial Airways Handley Page W.10 (G-EBMT) ditched into theEnglish Channel after suffering an engine failure. 6 of the 13 people on board the plane survived.[14] |
| 21 January 1939 | Short S.23 Empire | 13 | 3 | AnImperial Airways Short S.23 Empire (G-ADUU) ditched into theAtlantic Ocean after suffering a loss of power to its engines. 10 of the 13 people on board survived.[15] |
| 10 February 1945 | Douglas C-47 | 12 | 0 | A lostU.S. Air ForceDouglas C-47 was attempting to make an emergency landing at a nearby airfield since it was running on low fuel. Unbeknownst to the crew, they were heading towards aJapanese airfield. AP-51, piloted byLouis Edward Curdes, conducting an air attack over the Japanese airfield spotted the C-47. He was unable to contact the crew of the C-47 as the radio on the C-47 stopped working, so he shot down both engines of the C-47 to prevent the occupants of the C-47 to be captured by the Japanese upon landing at the airfield. The C-47 was then forced to ditch into the sea. All 12 people on board survived and were eventually rescued.[16][17] |
| 11 April 1952 | Douglas DC-4 | 69 | 52 | Pan Am Flight 526A ditched 11.3 miles northwest ofPuerto Rico due to engine failure after take off. Many survived the initial ditching but panicking passengers refused to leave the sinking wreck and drowned. 52 passengers were killed, 17 passengers and crew members were rescued by the USCG. After this accident it was recommended to implementpre-flight safety demonstrations for over-water flights.[18] |
| 16 April 1952 | de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover | 3 | 0 | Ade Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover VH-DHA operated by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation[19] with 3 occupants was ditched in theBismarck Sea betweenWewak andManus Island. The port propeller failed, a propeller blade penetrated the fuselage and the single pilot was rendered unconscious; a passenger performed the ditching; all 3 occupants survived.[20] |
| 3 August 1953 | Lockheed L-749A Constellation | 42 | 4 | Air France Flight 152, aLockheed L-749A Constellation ditched 6 miles fromFethiye Point,Turkey 1.5 miles offshore into theMediterranean Sea on a flight between Rome, Italy andBeirut, Lebanon. The propeller had failed due to blade fracture. Due to violent vibrations, engine number three broke away and control of engine number four was lost. The crew of eight and all but four of the 34 passengers were rescued; the other 4 passengers died.[21] |
| 8 May 1954 | Antonov An-2 | 5 | 0 | After mistakenly enabling reverse thrust, theAntonov An-2 Registered CCCP-N140 sunk after attempting to land on a chunk of floating ice. No occupants were injured and they were rescued by another aircraft.[22] |
| 19 June 1954 | Convair CV-240 HB-IRW | 9 | 3 | Swissair Convair CV-240 (HB-IRW) ditched into theEnglish Channel because of fuel starvation, which was attributed to pilot error. All three crew and five passengers survived the ditching and could escape the plane. However, three of the passengers could not swim and eventually drowned, because there were no life jackets on board, which was not prescribed at the time.[23] |
| 23 July 1954 | Douglas C-54A-10-DC Skymaster | 18 | 10 | Cathay PacificVR-HEU ditched into the South China Sea after being shot by twoLavochkin La-11 fighters of the 85th Fighter Regiment,People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). While ten passengers and crew were killed by bullets and the subsequent ditching, eight others survived and escaped from the sinking plane, including both pilots.[24] |
| 26 March 1955 | Boeing 377 Stratocruiser | 23 | 4 | Pan Am Flight 845/26 ditched 35 miles from the Oregon coast after an engine tore loose. Despite the tail section breaking off during the impact the aircraft floated for twenty minutes before sinking. 4 died but 19 survivors were rescued after a further 90 minutes in the water.[25] |
| 2 April 1956 | Boeing 377 | 38 | 5 | Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (aBoeing 377) ditched intoPuget Sound after severe buffeting and altitude loss that was later determined to have been caused by the failure of the crew to close thecowl flaps on the plane's engines. All aboard escaped the aircraft after a textbook landing, but four passengers and one flight attendant succumbed either todrowning or tohypothermia before being rescued.[26][27] |
| 16 October 1956 | Boeing 377 | 31 | 0 | Pan Am Flight 6 (also aBoeing 377) ditched northeast of Hawaii, after losing two of its four engines. The aircraft circled aroundUSCGC Pontchartrain until daybreak, when it ditched; all 31 on board survived.[28][29] |
| 14 July 1960 | DC-7C | 57 | 1 | Northwest Airlines Flight 1-11 (ADC-7C) with 7 crew and 51 passengers made a successful ditching in shark-infested waters at 4:05am, 11 miles from Magdalo barrio, Polillo Island about 80 miles from Manila, Philippines. Capt. David Hall was forced to make an emergency water landing after a fire broke out in the no. 2 engine when it did not feather followed by its propeller spinning off. In darkness and rough seas, the crew were able to evacuate all passengers and eventually get them aboard the life rafts as the aircraft sank nose first into the Pacific Ocean. There was only 1 loss of life, caused by a heart attack. The 57 passengers and crew were rescued five hours later by Coast Guard Grumman amphibian and a US Navy PBM from Sangley Point Naval Base in Cavite, Philippines.[30][31] |
| 23 September 1962 | Lockheed 1049H-82 Super Constellation | 76 | 28 | Flying Tiger Line Flight 923, a Lockheed 1049H-82 Super Constellation registered as N6923C, passenger aircraft, on a military (MATS) charter flight, with a crew of 8 and 68 U.S. civilian and military (paratrooper) passengers ditched in the North Atlantic about 500 miles west of Shannon, Ireland after losing three engines on a flight from Gander, Newfoundland to Frankfurt, West Germany.[32][33] 45 of the passengers and 3 crew were rescued, with 23 passengers and 5 crew members being lost in the storm-swept seas. All occupants evacuated the airplane. Those who were lost succumbed in the rough seas.[34] |
| 22 October 1962 | DC-7C | 58 | 0 | Northwest Airlines Flight 293, aDC-7C with 7 crew and 95 passengers[35] made a successful water landing inSitka Sound. The military charter flight was en route toElmendorf Air Force Base fromMcChord Air Force Base and, prior to the ditching at just before 1 p.m. local time, the crew had been struggling with a propeller problem for about 45 minutes.[36] The plane stayed afloat for 24 minutes after coming to rest in the water, giving the occupants ample time to evacuate into life-rafts. Only 6 minor injuries were reported; all passengers and crew were quickly rescued by U.S. Coast Guard ships.[37] The accident report called the ditching "an outstanding feat", citing several key factors in this water landing's success: pilots' skill, ideal conditions (calm seas, favorable weather, daylight), time to prepare for the ditching and the military passengers' ease with following orders.[38] Pilots who flew over the scene also praised the Northwest crew, calling it the "finest ditching they had ever seen".[37] |
| 21 August 1963 | Tupolev Tu-124 | 52 | 0 | Aeroflot Flight 366 ditched into theNeva River inLeningrad (now St. Petersburg) after running out of fuel. A nearby tugboat pulled the plane to shore where the passengers disembarked onto the tug; all 52 on board escaped without injuries.[39] |
| 23 April 1966 | Ilyushin Il-14 | 33 | 33 | Aeroflot Flight 2723 (anIlyushin Il-14 registered as CCCP-61772) suffered a dual-engine failure several minutes after taking off fromBina International Airport. The pilots were unable to return to Bina and ended up ditching into theCaspian Sea. The wreckage and occupants were not found until a few months later. All 33 people on board died.[40] |
| 16 September 1966 | C-47A | 27 | 1 | Iberia Flight 261 [de], operated bySpantax on aDouglas DC-3/C-47A-75-DL registered as EC-ACX, was forced to ditch in theAtlantic Ocean due to an engine problem 2 minutes after takeoff. This domestic flight was en route fromTenerife toLa Palma in theCanary Islands,Spain. One passenger died during the evacuation.[41] |
| 2 May 1970 | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33CF | 63 | 23 | ALM Flight 980 (aMcDonnell Douglas DC-9-33CF), ditched in mile-deep water after running out of fuel during multiple attempts to land atPrincess Juliana International Airport on the island ofSint Maarten in theNetherlands Antilles under low-visibility weather. Insufficient warning to the cabin resulted in several passengers and crew still either standing or with unfastened seat belts as the aircraft struck the water. Of 63 occupants, 40 survivors were recovered byU.S. militaryhelicopters.[42] |
| 17 July 1972 | Tupolev Tu-134 | 5 | 0 | AGosNIIASTupolev Tu-134 (CCCP-65607)[ru] was conducting a test flight when both of its engines shut down and the crew were unable to restart the engines. The plane was low on altitude and had to ditch on the Ikshinskoye reservoir. All 5 people on board survived with no injuries.[citation needed] |
| 11 September 1990 | Boeing 727 | 16 | 16 (presumed) | AFaucett Perú Boeing 727 (OB-1303) was running out of fuel and the pilots sent a out adistress message that was picked up byTWA Flight 851 andAmerican Airlines Flight 35, stating that they were preparing to ditch into theAtlantic Ocean. Nothing else was ever heard from the pilots again and the wreckage and occupants were never found.[43][44] Officials from theTransportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) believed the plane had in fact ditched into the Atlantic Ocean.[45] |
| 24 April 1994 | Douglas DC-3 | 25 | 0 | A DC-3 (VH-EDC), operated by South Pacific Airmotive, suffered a failure of the left engine at approximately 200 ft (61 m) after taking off fromSydney Airport (Australia) . The power of the right engine was insufficient to climb or maintain height, so the pilot carried out a successful ditching. All 25 on board survived with only one minor physical injury.[46][47] |
| 25 March 1995 | Lockheed P-3 Orion | 11 | 0 | A US NavyLockheed P-3 Orion had to ditch into theArabian Sea 200 miles east of Oman when theLockheed P-3 Orion suffered a catastrophic loss of the number 4 engine propeller. The catastrophic loss of the propeller resulted in propeller fragments passing through the aircraft fuselage and severing fuel lines and control cables for the remaining 3 engines resulting in a no power water landing. All onboard survived.[48] |
| 23 November 1996 | Boeing 767-260ER | 175 | 125 | 23 November 1996:Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (aBoeing 767-260ER), ditched in the Indian Ocean nearComoros after being hijacked and running out of fuel, killing 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board. Unable to operateflaps, it impacted at high speed, dragging its left wingtip before tumbling and breaking into three pieces. The panicking hijackers were fighting the pilots for the control of the plane at the time of the impact, which caused the plane to roll just before hitting the water, and the subsequent wingtip hitting the water and breakup are a result of this struggle in the cockpit. Some passengers were killed on impact or trapped in the cabin when they inflated theirlife vests before exiting. Most of the survivors were found hanging onto a section of thefuselage that remained floating.[49] |
| 29 July 1998 | Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante | 27 | 12 | 29 July 1998: A Selva Taxi AéreoEmbraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante (PT-LGN)[de] had an oil pressure issue on the number 2 engine twenty minutes after taking off fromManaus-Eduardo Gomes International Airport and had to be shut down later on. Due to this, the crew decided to turn back to Manaus. The plane could not maintain flight with only one engine since the plane was severely overweight and thus unable to reach Manaus, so the plane had to ditch on theManacapuru River. 12 out of the 27 people on board the plane were killed.[50] |
| 13 January 2000 | Short 360 | 41 | 22 | 13 January 2000: AnAvisto Short 360 (HB-AAM) suffered a dual-engine failure after the melting of ice accumulated in both engines. The plane ditched into theMediterranean Sea, 5 km offMarsa Brega Airport. Out of the 41 people on board, 19 had survived, 21 were killed and 1 was missing and is presumed dead.[51] |
| 31 May 2000 | Piper PA-31 | 8 | 8 | 31 May 2000:aPiper PA-31 Chieftain operatingWhyalla Airlines Flight 904 ditched in theSpencer Gulf inSouth Australia at night after both engines failed. The very dark conditions and lack of visual reference complicated the landing and the pilot and all 7 passengers were killed. As a result of the accident regulations in Australia now require that all aircraft carrying paying passengers over water carry life jackets and survival equipment.[52] |
| 27 February 2001 | Shorts 360-100 | 2 | 2 | 27 February 2001:Loganair Flight 670A, aShorts 360-100, took off fromEdinburgh Airport, United Kingdom. Shortly thereafter, the plane suffered a dual engine failure from an accumulation of large volumes of snow or slush in both engines and ditched in theFirth of Forth. Both pilots, who were the only people on board, were killed.[53] |
| 16 January 2002 | Boeing 737 | 60 | 1 | 16 January 2002:Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 (aBoeing 737) successfully ditched into theBengawan Solo River nearYogyakarta,Java Island after experiencing a twin engineflameout during heavyprecipitation andhail. The pilots tried to restart the engines several times before making the decision to ditch the aircraft. Photographs taken shortly after evacuation show that the plane came to rest in knee-deep water.[54] Of the 60 occupants, one flight attendant was killed.[55] |
| 21 May 2002 | Douglas DC-3 | 3 | 0 | May 21, 2002: A Douglas DC-3registered as X-JBR operated by Aero JBR crashed after performing a regular maintenance flight. The crew had conducted multiple touch and go landing when both engines lost power. The crew successfully ditched it inLake Casa Blanca and were rescued by a boat. The aircraft sunk in 6 feet (1.8 meters) of water |
| 11 November 2002 | Fokker F27 Friendship | 34 | 19 | 11 November 2002:Laoag International Airlines Flight 585 took off from Manila runway 31 at just after 6 o'clock for a flight to Laoag and Basco Airport (BSO). Shortly after takeoff engine trouble developed in the aircraft's left engine. The pilot declared an emergency and tried to land the plane but decided at the last minute to ditch into the sea. The aircraft broke up and sank in the water to a depth of about 60 feet. 19 of the 34 occupants were killed.[56] |
| 6 August 2005 | ATR 72 | 39 | 16 | 6 August 2005:Tuninter Flight 1153 (anATR 72) ditched off theSicilian coast afterrunning out of fuel. Of 39 aboard, 23 survived with injuries. The plane's wreck was found in three pieces.[57] |
| 4 January 2008 | Let L-410 Turbolet | 14 | 14 | 4 January 2008: At altitude 7,500 the Let L-410 Turbolet airliner operated by Transavencrashed near theLos Roques Archipelago. The aircraft had suffered a double engine flameout and ditched into the ocean. All 14 occupants on board were killed after it sunk to the seafloor.[58] |
| 15 January 2009 | Airbus A320 | 155 | 0 | 15 January 2009:US Airways Flight 1549 (anAirbus A320) successfully ditched into theHudson River between New York City and New Jersey, after reports of multiplebird strikes. This event is sometimes referred to as "miracle on the Hudson", as all of the 155 passengers and crew aboard escaped and were rescued by passenger ferries and day-cruise boats, in spite of freezing temperatures. The ditching occurred near theCircle Line Sightseeing Cruises andNY Waterway piers in midtown Manhattan.[59] |
| 22 October 2009 | Britten-Norman Islander | 10 | 1 | 22 October 2009:aDivi Divi AirBritten-Norman Islander operatingDivi Divi Air Flight 014 ditched off the coast ofBonaire after its starboard engine failed. The pilot reported that the aircraft was losing 200 feet per minute after choosing to fly to an airport. All 9 passengers survived but the captain was knocked unconscious and although some passengers attempted to free him, he drowned and was pulled down with the aircraft.[60] |
| 18 November 2009 | Westwind II | 6 | 0 | 18 November 2009: APel-Air West conducting an air ambulance flight using aWestwind II (VH-NGA) ditched into the sea 3 km south-west of Norfolk Island due to the flight crew being unable to land at Norfolk Island in poor weather conditions and not having enough fuel to divert to another airport. All 6 people on board survived.[61] |
| 6 June 2011 | Antonov An-26 | 3 | 0 | 6 June 2011:aSolenta AviationAntonov An-26 freighter flying forDHL Aviation ditched in the Atlantic Ocean nearLibreville, Gabon. All three crew and the one passenger were rescued with minor injuries.[62] |
| 11 July 2011 | Antonov An-24 | 37 | 7 | 11 July 2011:Angara Airlines Flight 9007 (anAntonov An-24 turboprop) ditched in shallow water in theOb River nearStrezhevoy, Russia, after an in-flight engine fire. Upon water contact, the tail and one engine broke off, but the rest of the fuselage remained in one piece. Of the 37 people on board, 7 passengers were killed and 19 injured.[63] |
| 11 December 2013 | Cessna 208B Grand Caravan | 9 | 1 | 11 December 2013: A Makani Kai AirCessna 208B Grand Caravan (N687MA) ditched shortly after takeoff fromKalaupapa Airport, Hawaii due to engine failure. The plane sustained substantial damage from the impact. Of the 9 people on board, one passenger was fatally injured, the pilot and two passengers were seriously injured, and five passengers received minor injuries.[64] |
| 26 February 2016 | CASA/IPTN CN-235 | 8 | 0 | 26 February 2016: While performing routine training exercises, aCasa CN-235M operated by theRoyal Malaysian Air Force had its left engine catch aflame. The aircraft subsequently crashed on the beaches of Taman Malawati Utama. 7 of the 8 occupants escaped unhurt with the only injury being the co pilot, who escaped with a broken arm.[65] |
| 22 November 2017 | Grumman C-2 Greyhound | 11 | 3 | 22 November 2017: A Grumman C-2 Greyhound belonging tosupercarrier Ronald Reagan(CVN-76) Landed just short of the carrier deck after losing power in both engines, three occupants were killed.[66] |
| 21 June 2019 | Basler BT-67 | 2 | 0 | 21 June 2019: ANorth Star AirBasler BT-67 (C-FKGL) lost power to both engines after the pilot in the left seat, who was not flying the plane, accidentally moved the fuel condition levers while retracting the landing gear. The plane, flying in pitch-black conditions, had to ditch into Eabamet Lake,Ontario. Both pilots evacuated the plane without injuries.[67] |
| 18 October 2019 | Douglas DC-3 | 2 | 0 | 18 October 2019: A Douglas DC-3 registered N437GB crashed 2.87 miles (4.61 km) short of runway 13 atLynden Pindling International Airport inNassau, Bahamas the DC-3 was being operated by Atlantic Air Cargo and was on a flight to Lynden Pindling fromMiami International Airport, the pilot reported that the aircraft lost power in the left engine 25-30 nautical miles from MYNN. He also stated that while under single engine operation after the failure the aircraft's performance was not optimal, which is what coerced him to make the ditching. The ATC of MYNN was notified by both crew members of N437GB that they would make the ditching. Air Traffic Control at MYNN notified the Royal Bahamas Defense Forces. Upon landing rescue efforts were implemented and both the co-pilot and pilot were rescued with no injuries. The aircraft was written off and a limited-scope investigation into the crash was initiated.[68] |
| 2 July 2021 | Boeing 737 | 2 | 0 | 2 July 2021: OnTransair Flight 810, one engine on theBoeing 737-200 cargo aircraft failed en route fromHonolulu to the neighboring Hawaiian island ofMaui. The crew attempted to turn back to Honolulu'sDaniel K. Inouye International Airport, but the plane's second engine overheated, forcing the two pilots on board to ditch the airplane about 4 miles (6.4 km) off the southern coast ofOahu. Both pilots were rescued by theUnited States Coast Guard.[69] |
| 15 December 2022 | Pilatus PC-6 Porter | 2 | 1 | 15 December 2022: PK-SNF (Nicknamed"Franz"), the last Pilatus PC-6 Porter produced byPilatus Aircraft crashed in the water shortly after taking off fromHeraklion International Airport after reporting electrical problems. The plane was on a delivery flight with 1 pilot and one passenger fromBuochs Airport toHurghada International Airport with stops inMaribor Edvard Rusjan Airport andPodgorica Airport along the way in that chronological order. After taking off fromHeraklion International Airport PK-SNF reported unspecified electrical problems and while on a turn back to Heraklion, lost large amounts ofairspeed,stalled and ditched in the water, killing the 68 year-old Indonesian passenger and slightly injuring the 28 year-old pilot. The aircraft floated upside down for an extended period of time before being recovered by emergency services, it was on delivery to its new ownerSmart Cakrawala Aviation based inIndonesia.[70] |
| It has been suggested thatthis list besplit out into a new article titledList of aircraft ditchings. (Discuss)(January 2025) |
Aircraft also sometimes end up in water by running off the ends of runways, landing in water short of the end of a runway, or even being forcibly flown into the water during suicidal/homicidal events. Twice atLaGuardia Airport, an aircraft has rolled into theEast River (USAir Flight 5050 andUSAir Flight 405).
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A limited number of pre-World War II military aircraft, such as theGrumman F4F Wildcat andDouglas TBD Devastator, were equipped with flotation bags that kept them on the surface in the event of a ditching.[95][96]
The "water bird" emergency landing is a technique developed by theCanadian Forces to safely land theSikorsky CH-124 Sea King helicopter if one engine fails while flying over water. The emergency landing technique allows theboat-hull equipped aircraft to land on the water in a controlled fashion.[97]
Beginning in 2013 and continuing into 2014 and 2015, a series ofocean water landing tests were undertaken bySpaceX as a prelude to bringingbooster rockets back to the launch pad in an effort toreuselaunch vehicle booster stages.[98] Seven test flights with controlled-descents have been conducted by April 2015.[99]
Prior to 2013, successful water landings of launch vehicles were not attempted, while periodicwater landings ofspace capsules have been accomplished since 1961. The vast majority ofspace launch vehicles take off vertically and are destroyed onfalling back to earth. Exceptions includesuborbitalvertical-landing vehicles (e.g.,MastenXoie or theArmadillo Aerospace'Lunar Lander Challenge vehicle), and thespaceplanes that use thevertical takeoff, horizontal landing (VTHL) approach (e.g., theSpace Shuttle, or theUSAFX-37) which havelanding gear to enable runway landings.[100] Each vertical-takeoff spaceflight system to date has relied onexpendable boosters to begin each ascent toorbital velocity. This is beginning to change.
Recent advances inprivatespace transport, wherenew competition to governmental space initiatives hasemerged, have included the explicit design ofrecoverable rocket technologies into orbital booster rockets. SpaceX has initiated and funded a multimillion-dollar program to pursue this objective, known as thereusable launch system development program.[101][102][103]
Theorbital-flight version of the SpaceX design[104] was first successful at accomplishing a water landing (zero velocity and zero altitude) in April 2014 on aFalcon 9 rocket and was the first successful controlled ocean soft touchdown of a liquid-rocket-engine orbital booster.[105][106]Seven test flights with controlled-descent test over-water landings, including two with failed attempts to land on afloating landing platform, have been conducted by April 2015.[99]
In October 2024 the upper stage of SpaceX'sStarship spacecraft performed a controlled, high accuracy water landing in theIndian Ocean near a pre-positionedbuoy that captured footage of the splashdown.[107]
the space race is flaring back into life, and it's not massive institutions such as NASA that are in the running. The old view that human space flight is so complex, difficult and expensive that only huge government agencies could hope to accomplish it is being disproved by a new breed of flamboyant space privateers, who are planning to send humans out beyond the Earth's orbit for the first time since 1972.
The Falcon Heavy first stage center core and boosters each carry landing legs, which will land each core safely on Earth after takeoff. After the side boosters separate, the center engine in each will burn to control the booster's trajectory safely away from the rocket. The legs will then deploy as the boosters turn back to Earth, landing each softly on the ground. The center core will continue to fire until stage separation, after which its legs will deploy and land it back on Earth as well. The landing legs are made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb. The four legs stow along the sides of each core during liftoff and later extend outward and down for landing.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Ditching of a B-24D into the James River in 1944 – Flight | |
| Ditching of a B-24D into the James River in 1944 – Preparations | |
| Ditching Procedures for a C-54 |