Wiktionary
n. (context aviation English) An emergency landing in water, especially by aircraft not designed to land on water.
Wikipedia
A water landing is, in the broadest sense, a landing on a body of water. Waterfowl, those seabirds capable of flight, and some aircraft such as floatplanes are capable of landing in water as a matter of course.
The phrase “water landing” is also used as a euphemism for crash-landing into water an aircraft not designed for the purpose, an event formally termed ditching. In this case, the flight crew knowingly make a controlled emergency landing in water. Ditching of commercial aircraft are a rare occurrence.
Usage examples of "water landing".
He's the one sent me to Black-water Landing after Mary Beth'd been kidnapped.
Farther on, they passed cabins and houses, what looked like a storage dump, some kind of a water landing, and a workshop for vehicles.
With an ordinary water landing it didn't make a great deal of difference, but the reflected thrust made a ship coming in over land quiver like a ball on a vibrating table.
The wings are no longer generating lift, but I can use the ventral contra-gravity generators to raise thrust enough to regain control and bring me down for a soft water landing.
Near impossible to pull off a water landing on high waves in the dark, even by an experienced pilot.