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  • A water landing generally refers to an aircraft landing on water, which is a normal operation for seaplanes, floatplanes, and flying boats—though for conventional aircraft, a controlled emergency water landing is known as ditching and is quite rare, often resulting in structural failure.
  • Early crewed spacecraft from the United States, such as those using the splashdown method, were designed to alight on water, but the Space Shuttle later landed on runways; today, SpaceX's Dragon capsule uses water landings and has carried crew since 2020.
  • According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there are about a dozen ditchings per year, most commonly caused by engine failure or pilot error, and general aviation—which has 16 deaths per million flight hours—is far riskier than commercial flights (0.74 deaths per million hours).
  • While the FAA does not require US commercial pilots to train for ditching, cabin crew must practice evacuation, and certain Airbus aircraft feature a "ditching button" that seals valves and openings to slow flooding during a water landing.
  • Aircraft also often end up in water accidentally, such as running off runways or being forced into water—examples include two USAir flights rolling into the East River at LaGuardia Airport (USAir Flight 5050 and USAir Flight 405) and KLM Flight 633 in 1954.