Plane Crash on the Hudson

[Geekyfanboy]

These are amazing pictures.

[Meds]

That is crazy. I saw on twitter that Zoe said "Twitter isn't on top form until someone tweets from a plane crash" > I'm a bit new to this incident is it to do with birds causing the crash?

[Feathers]

From news just broadcast they're claiming a flock of geese took out both engines. Losing one engine during takeoff would probably bring a plane down. Losing both is...serious.

That must have been a pretty hairy ride.

[Meds]

They do say that bird flu can knock you down.....

[Bryancd]

I am so flying US Airways from n ow on seeing the kind of pilots they hire! This was a truly amazing event, the professionalism of the flight crew, the immediate response from the local commuter ferries, a reminder of how good we can be when times get tough.

[Geekyfanboy]

All 155 survive plane crash in NYC's Hudson River

NEW YORK – A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines, but rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank. There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

Flight 1549 went down minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., splashing into the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.

"There were eyewitness reports the plane may have flown into a flock of birds," said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown. "Right now we don't have any indication this was anything other than an accident."

Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., said he heard an explosion two or three minutes into the flight, looked out the left side of the Airbus 320 and saw one of the engines on fire.

"The captain said, `Brace for impact because we're going down,'" Kolodjay said. He said passengers put their heads in their laps and started saying prayers. He said the plane hit the water pretty hard, but he was fine.

"It was intense. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing," Kolodjay said.

The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows when rescuers in Coast Guard vessels and ferry boats arrived, opened the door and pulled passengers in yellow life vests from the aircraft, whose fuselage appeared intact. The plane was sinking in the near-freezing water on one of the coldest days of the year, with the mercury around 20 degrees.

Witnesses said the plane's pilot appeared to guide the plane down.

"I see a commercial airliner coming down, looking like it's landing right in the water," said Bob Read, who saw it from his office at the television newsmagazine "Inside Edition." "This looked like a controlled descent."

Barbara Sambriski, a researcher at The Associated Press, saw the plane go down from the news organization's high-rise office. "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water," she said.

The pilot reported a "double bird strike" less than a minute after taking off, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union. The controller sent the aircraft back toward LaGuardia, but the pilot saw an airport below him and asked what it was, Church said. It was Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and the pilot asked to land there, Church said.

The instruction to land at Teterboro was the last communication with the plane before it went down in the river, Church said.

US Airways said 150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots were on board the jetliner.

Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot, said it is not unusual for birds to strike planes. In fact, he said, when planes get ready to take off, if there are birds in the area, the tower will alert the crew.

In the rare cases in which birds get sucked into an engine, "they literally just choke out the engine and it quits," Mazzone said.

Twenty-seven years ago this week, an Air Florida plane bound for Tampa crashed into the Potomac River after hitting a bridge just after takeoff from Washington National Airport. The crash on Jan. 13, 1982, killed 78 people including four people in their cars on the bridge. Five people on the plane survived.

[Feathers]

I'm sure Airbus will be taking some comfort from this. Designing a plane to survive a water landing is completely different from actually seeing one do so!

Maybe I'll be slightly more benevolent toward our safety team when I see them at work tomorrow.

[Rico]

Nice to hear about everyone surviving a plane going down.  Great job by the pilot, crew and rescue team.

[Feathers]

Yeah. I don't think I've ever heard of a 100% survival before. It's fine flying in anyone's book.

The ferry crews (and all the other boats) deserve recognition too.

[Bryancd]

The Hero Of Flight 1549
Veteran pilot, 57, safely landed US Airways jet in Hudson River

JANUARY 15--Meet Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III, the US Airways pilot who today amazingly crash-landed a US Airways jet in New York's Hudson River without any apparent fatalities. The heroic Sullenberger, 57, has worked for US Airways since 1980, and before that spent more than six years as a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. Sullenberger, who now must be considered the front runner to replace Hillary Clinton as New York's junior United States Senator, is also the founder of Safety Reliability Methods. The firm describes itself as providing "technical expertise and strategic vision and direction to improve safety and reliability in a variety of high risk industries." Business should soon be booming. Click here to revel in Sullenberger's brilliance and professionalism, as detailed in the veteran pilot's resume. Expect his "executive career highlights" to be updated shortly.

[Vartok]

The captain is to be commended for landing an A320 safely without engines, kind of like a flying brick.

Vartok knows something about designing jet engines (sorry, I am not really from Scurrilea, and I won't go out of character often).  Aircraft engines are designed to allow a takeoff completion on one engine so you can go around and land, happens more than you might know.  Fortunately it is an FAA requirement.  We also design for bird strkes up to a certain size (California condors are exempt).  Here is a video on Youtube about one of our most recent engines showing bird strike, hail, water ingestion testing (birds are, err, not alive).  3:39 min

Of course there are exceptions, most notably single engine aircraft.  Lose one and you are eject material.  You can see those videos on Youtube as well!

V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYm7Ctd23i0

[iceman]

Absolutely amazing that no one was killed

[Feathers]

Some BBC reporter last night stated that "he lost 2 engines after which he attempted to turn the aircraft around and return to La Guardia".

I'm sorry, but as far as I know if you lose two engines on a twin engine aircraft, you look for somewhere to put it down fast. You do NOT turn around and try and land at your point of departure!

[Bryancd]

Some BBC reporter last night stated that "he lost 2 engines after which he attempted to turn the aircraft around and return to La Guardia".

I'm sorry, but as far as I know if you lose two engines on a twin engine aircraft, you look for somewhere to put it down fast. You do NOT turn around and try and land at your point of departure!

Having flown out of LaGuardia for most of my life, I can tell you what he was looking at in those first few moments. At the point where they hit the birds, he was probably below 1000 feet heading north/northwest directly over Queens, NY. If you are familiar with that area, it is wall to wall homes and building. There are no open areas. The airport and the water surrounding the airport are the best first option that soon into the flight. Realizing he didn't have the power or alttitude to make the turn, he seems to have let momentum carry them over the top of Manahatten, over Harlem, and then he had the entire Hudson River strecthed out below to land in. All he had to do was clear the George Washington Bridge, which he did by about 900 feet appartently. A nice long gentle glide slope with maybe a headwind would have helped him hold lift while slowing down as well.

[Meds]

Bryan, this is your neck of the woods isn't it? What an amzing landing i do seriously hope they award the pilot.