ditching?

[Paton]

Well think about what happens when you ditch in water instead of land. As soon as you hit the water, its going to be very hard to keep the nose of
the plane from "digging" into the water and fliping over. Where as on land, the surface of the earth is much harder then water and it is easier, but
by no means easy, to keep the nose from catching and digging in. Espeacially since you have the landing gear, assuming they deploy if they are not
fixed, to cushin your touchdown on land. Over water, forget it if your in a plane with fixed gear. And if your in a plane with retractable gear it
is most likely a heavier plane and the first thing thats going to happen when you hit the water is that nose is going to slap down, and your going to
go for quite a ride.