From: T@ld.you   
      
   "Scott M. Kozel"  wrote in   
   news:gkr6ue$940$1@news.motzarella.org:   
      
   > Poster@newsgroups.com wrote:   
   >>   
   >> Didn't know that:   
   >>   
   >> "The A320 also is equipped with a ditching button, which closes all   
   >> valves below the waterline, enabling it to float more easily."   
   >>   
   >> According to CNN.   
   >   
   > I didn't know that either ... is it an urban legend?  After all, most   
   > ditchings result in (at the minimum) cracks in the fuselage, which   
   > would let in a lot more water than open valves.   
   >   
   > Besides, "waterline" is a nautical term, not an aviation term (unless   
   > talking about a flying boat, i.e. an aircraft that has a hull designed   
   > to land on water).  That would exclude the A-320.   
   >   
      
      
   Actually, wrong on both counts. There is a term waterline" used in aircraft   
   ( as well as keel!) but it actually has nothing to do with the way the   
   thing sits in the water. That is considered, however, for th epsecific   
   purpose of figuring how the thing is going to sit during a ditching.   
      
   And all Busses have ditching swtiches. Closes all the various holes in the   
   belly to slow th eingresss of water. Theyre not the first or only   
   manufacturer to do so either. With Boeings an some others, similar   
   consideration is given but not to the same degree. In any case, as has been   
   seen, they float anyhow.   
      
   Bertie   
   >   
      
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