# How can a piece of wing drift on the water?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-piece-of-wing-drift-on-the-water/727190>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 6, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-piece-of-wing-drift-on-the-water/727190 "2015-08-06T20:39:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-piece-of-wing-drift-on-the-water/727190/41 "2015-08-08T09:15:44Z")

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> [@Isilder](#):
>
> Kinda … The criteria is displacement actually.
> 
> the weight of the water displaced by the boat must be the weight of the boat.  
> So just as long as the boat is light enough that it keeps its water tight hull above water…  
> The density of the boat and its load does not matter, only its weight… and the size of the water tight hull…

For simple objects, it’s just a different way of saying the same thing. An object that is less dense than water will float because its volume displaces a volume of water that is heavier than it, because it is less dense. (Overall as a solid, even if not uniformly throughout it’s inside)

Boats can have extra bits plonked on top which adds weight without increasing watertight displacement, so the weight/displacement thing has more utility.

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-piece-of-wing-drift-on-the-water/727190/42 "2015-08-08T14:14:57Z")

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Sully’s plane floated long enough to get everyone off safely, that’s long enough. If you want it to float longer, get a seaplane, but even seaplanes leak.

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**Author:** ![NBYodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@NBYodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBYodo)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-piece-of-wing-drift-on-the-water/727190/43 "2015-08-10T02:53:25Z")

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> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> A friend who’s an airline mechanic once told me that almost every part that goes into a modern airliner has a serial number on it. And they have to keep track of those for each plane, and when they replace a part, they update the records for that airframe.
> 
> So I expect that if it’s a sizable part, it will be traceable to tht plane.

I’m not as familiar with Boeing’s procedure, but Airbus have unique part numbers for each unique manufactured part, but not serial numbers. So you can confirm that the part came off a particular type of aircraft, but not a particular plane.

NB

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