ditch-switch

ditch-switch
 n.— «It also turns out that the pilots on Flight 1549 did not throw the so-called “ditch-switch,” designed to seal the plane’s belly and make it more buoyant after a water landing. Investigators say the pilots were properly working their way down the ditching check-list and simply did not have time to engage the switch before impact.» —“Divers Find Missing U.S. Airways Engine” by Bob Orr in Washington, D.C. CBS News Jan. 21, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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