I have two issues. Can a plane under the water in the middle of the ocean be seen by a passing plane? And could captain Don swim to the surface with a crappy plastic oxygen mask? I love this movie, but it's one of those movies that has you guessing about many things.
shareI always assumed it was something like 40 to 50 feet or so deep where you'd need to really stretch yourself to the limit to swim to the surface without a mask but where it was plausible. And that would be right to see it from above.
Of course I think most areas of what we would call "shallow" water before they drop off into a precipitous depth (and we see the plane is lying close to such a shelf) usually tend to be 100 to 200 feet down which would make it more of a stretch for the plane to maintain its airtight integrity let alone for Lemmon to reach the surface without a mask.
The water had to be around 100 feet deep to cover the plane completely. The water pressure would be around 45 psi or three atmospheres which is three times more pressure than it was designed to withstand not to mention a plane is not designed to be watertight.
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