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Do pilots practise crash landings on a flight simulator?
and would landing in water be safer than landing on land?...also would it be possible that the manufactures could make a new light but strong material for the under belly of the aircraft that would help in case a pilot would have to make an emergency!
You can practice crash landings on a flight simulator but that is not a requirement to get your license. However big airlines do require or encourage practice in simulators for a variety of emergencies. Though you need to know all the procedures in several emergencies to get your license, just a few are engine fires, cabin fires, engine failiure, altimeter failiure just to name a few. During getting your private pilot license (first license you need just to fly small single engined planes) a part of the flight test is actually preparing for a landing in the event of a engine failure. That means your flight tester puts your engine to lowest power to stimulate that it's gone out. You have to know how to preform a restart attempt, mayday call and emergency landing briefing as well as secure the cockpit for crash landing. All this time while doing the previous you have to pick a place of landing (field most likely), your intended route and direction of landing based on wind direction, field condition and other factors. You do the whole simulation and glide until probably about 50ft above the ground before putting the plane to full power and carry on to the next test exercise. Know to pass this part on the flight test a pilot must be able at minimal to make it to the field by gliding, put the plane at a speed of about best glide distance by controlling rate of decent and landing approximately to a headwind. Know that every pilot does not like a water landing because of the factors of survival and the water condition. The best place to land in an emergency is a farm field with short grass that is long and flat. Know that other times planes have know to land on highways. Water landing are more dangerous. If your plane has a non-retractable wheel that means you have to make sure your tail touches the water first, this will absorb the impact but probably break off your tail. If your gear touches first than you will wheel barrow (think of it as a flip your bike does if you ride very fast and put front breaks on full). If your plane has retractable gears than its safer to "skid" across the water. Know that water landing is only relatively safe in calm water and waves will significantly make it more dangerous. The only more dangerous places to "land" is obviously in a forest or mountain in which your chances are not that high of survival especially in a small plane. Strong material under the belly of the plane will help less than you think. Landing a aircraft has very very high impact energy, Usually this is absorbed by shocks in the plane's landing gears. Having an aluminum underbelly is good because you want a less harder material to take the damage and "absorb the energy". Harder material wont break off but that means the energy will travel elsewhere into the fuselage of the plane. Thats why i said in water landing of small aircrafts with non-retractable gears, you want the tail to break off since that absorbs more energy. I hope this helps you out.
Cheers!
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