Originally Posted by
NWstu
Assuming the pilot makes a 3-point impact, wouldn't the engines snap off and take with them part of the wing while the plane continues to bounce and careen forward? When you say end-over-end, do you mean tail over nose, spinning around or cartwheeling? If it's not a 3-point impact with one engine hitting the water first, the plane would likely spin around the y-axis.
End over end as in tail over nose. Assuming the AC is at the slowest possible approach speed (100mph?) and the pilot holds the nose up as long as possible to bleed off additional speed and get the tail wet first, the second the wings make impact the engines are going to stop it in its tracks. Yes the engines may get ripped off but not before the energy transferred from the sudden "catch" of the engines sends the tail straight up and over. I have talked with several pilot's about this and they all pretty much say that there is a chance to minimize loss of life but a water landing with a modern jetliner it is a pretty dire situation. Also, all of the incidents cited above happened in shallow water. and the AC actually stayed out of the water to some degree after the crash. In deeper water it would go down like a stone as soon as the fuselage ruptured.