Passengers on the US Airways flight that crash-landed into the Hudson River Thursday afternoon praised the actions and courage of the pilot, a safety consultant with 40 years of experience in the aviation industry.
Sources tell CNN that Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger was piloting US Airways flight 1549 from New York’s LaGuardia airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, when at least one of the plane’s engines failed…
Sullenberger’s wife told CNN that she was stunned to hear the news from her husband after it was all over.
“When he called me he said, ‘There’s been an accident.’ At first I thought it was something minor, but then he told me the circumstances and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school…”
The crash-landing has…earned the former fighter pilot and private safety consultant accolades from state and government officials.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg commended the pilot for not leaving the plane without checking to make sure every passenger had been evacuated.
He has been a pilot with US Airways since 1980, following seven years in the U.S. Air Force.
His resume — posted on the Web site for his safety consulting firm, Safety Reliability Methods — lists piloting procedures, technical safety strategies, emergency management and operations improvement, as areas of industry expertise.
He served as an instructor and Air Line Pilots Association safety chairman, accident investigator and national technical committee member, according to a biography on the site. He participated in several USAF and National Transportation Safety Board accident investigations, and worked with NASA scientists on a paper on error and aviation, his site says.
For the passengers on flight 1549, Sullenberger’s skill and expertise were apparent.
Not an important point; but – this wasn’t a “crash” landing. It was an emergency landing; but, Sullenberger’s skill and cool kept it from being a crash landing. The important point being – everyone walked away.
Don’t know if all planes are now required to have this or not; but, this Airbus has what’s called a “dipswitch” – just for splashdowns – which sealed every opening in the bottom of the aircraft.
Certainly helped keep it afloat.
What about the “heros” that MADE the plane.
I’ve been trying this guys flight with MS Flight Simulator X and I’m no pilot and know nothing but it was entertaining and educational. That turn to line up with the hudson was tough, and without motors the plane loses altitude fast going straight and level banking to turn seems more like falling than flying. If you have MSFS X give it a try.
One heck of a pilot! Completely kept his head on straight, did absolutely everything correct based on his extensive training, and then did the right thing by ensuring everyone was off the plane before he left.
Could you imagine if the politicians in D.C. had that kind of regard for their jobs and constituents?
My vote is for the hero or heroine that figures out how to prevent these planes from going down due to bird strikes if that was what it was. All we really know is that the engine/engines went out.
Not an important point; but – this wasn’t a “crash” landing. /// Everything IS definitional. Define crash. Define LANDing.
It was an emergency landing; /// Emergency, yes. Define LANDing
but, Sullenberger’s skill and cool kept it from being a crash landing. /// aka “the False Distinction.” EVERY SINGLE FREAKING AIRLINE PILOT IN THE WORLD would have performed the same way. There is a selection process that culls the crop to a very select few highly QUALIFIED COMMAND PILOTS.
The important point being – everyone walked away/ /// Even the lady with two broken legs? What were all those gurneys being used for then?
Ya know, bobbo – more reading and less mouthing might make your comments worthwhile. Not worth taking to the time to correct either your poor reading skills or essential ignorance.
#7–god==could you be more specific?
Last night all the news reports were what a great job the pilot did.
This morning, its all about “The Miracle on the Hudson.”
What a bunch of ignorant savages. I guess the devil sent the birds into the plane’s path, but God directed the pilot? Is that our assessment of hard working dedicated professionals qualified by years of training a quality review?
Yea–its “magic.”
Its one thing to be ignorant and to have incorrect first impressions. When put on the spot with “facts,” I would hope for just a little bit, a tinsy weensie bit or rationality?
On a tech blog no less.
Sheeple—its not just for Sunday Mornings.
Turns out that under the first 8 definitions of “crash-landing” there was one:
: to land (an airplane or spacecraft) under emergency conditions usually with damage to the craft
Since when does doing your job make you a hero?
bobbo – What makes this man a hero was the fact that despite the dangers to himself, the crew and the passengers, he remained cool, calm and collected enough to bring the plane down safely with no fatalities.
You, on the other hand, would’ve been shitting your pants the whole way.
#12–MacGuy==excellent point. You completely TRASH the proven value of any training program. Well Done.
I recall the “accident” caused in a twin a while back. The crew experienced an engine fire and followed the engine fire shut down routine to a tee. You see–unlike generically dangerous situations, Pilots are TRAINED IN WHAT TO DO and are paid the big bucks to act that way.
Course in my remembered example, the pilot shut down the working engine===========wait for it========== but got it restarted before crashing. All Very Embarassing.
Was he Heroic?? He didn’t panic on shutting down the wrong engine. So, by your definition, he was a Hero.
I don’t know how you can be so silly with the guidance provided by #11
You really got yourself bent out shape on this bobbo.
#14–QB==good morning. Bent? I’m just being entirely consistent.
Hero:1 a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b: an illustrious warrior c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d: one that shows great courage2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement3plural usually heros : submarine 24: an object of extreme admiration and devotion
Some of the above comes close if you judge the context and ignore he was paid to do the fricking job.
So, what has me bent besides my normal contrariness?
I don’t like the “non-think” that goes along with calling too many people “heroes.” It diminishes everyone else of the same attributes who didn’t fall into fame and get their 15 minutes. It fails to recognize expertise and hard work. It fails to recognize and appreciate where responsibilities really lie.
Besides that, its fun to be right and have all my critics issue mere conclusions with no facts or analysis. It only redoubles my points.
PS–Firefighters and Police and Doctors and Paramedics are NOT heroes for the same reason. Just like actors, actresses, musicians, chefs, dancers, and politicians are not “geniuses” because they got up and went to work for 6 years.
Paradoxically, most heroism is scantly noticed or even criticized in most cases. etc.
Very few pilots who have attempted an emergency landing on water have “walked away” from it, nor have most of their passengers.
So, yes: yesterday’s incident WAS a “miracle” and the pilot IS a hero by any definition of those two terms that I understand.
In fact, consensus until yesterday was that such a landing on water in the jet age was not possible without a significant death/injury toll. This proves that consensus wrong.
#16–Kim==it would take a miracle for anyone that opines that certain activities undertaken by human beings is a miracle, to be correct on any facts they use/misuse to form such loopy brain damaged opinions.
One successfull jet water landing was made in 1963. Now as other dim bulbs here have posted, it wasn’t perfect because people got their feet wet.
http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=2201
I’ll take your continuing silence as recognition you don’t know WTF you are talking about and like most bible thumping miracle bunnies you make shit up as it pleases you.
And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: bobbo has lost it.
You’re a complete and total ass for wanting to take away an “atta-boy” from this pilot. Yes, it’s his job to handle an emergency landing.
And it was a job well done by this man. I’d certainly rather be a passenger on his plane than yours, bobbo. You seem hell-bent on proving someone wrong simply to prove them wrong. Maybe I should call you Icarus – you seem to want to fly against all odds simply for the sake of doing so.
Or maybe I’ll just call you a pompous, narcissistic ass and call it a day.
If it’s just the pilots job to handle situations like this, then I say he did one hell of a job!
Not everyone does their job well.
I wonder if this will help the airlines respect their pilots a bit more.
#18–Macguy==what gibberish. What is this need to manufacture HEROES on a weekly basis? Give them cake and theater and the sheeple can be lead by the nose.
In fact gang the FACTS are worse than we all assumed. While still early enough that everything we have been told can be reversed later==here’s a glaring act of PILOT ERROR:
“But what makes the outcome such a miracle was that the jet was travelling at 260 kph when it smashed into the water, and could easily have broken up”
SO!! It was a miracle. Guy landed way too hot and should be fired for not following water landing protocols. He tried to kill everyone with that speed not bled off to lower than normal landing speed.
I guess by definition he is unskilled and a coward.
Hah, I say Hah!!!!!!
((PS–by the way, if everything happened just as we all suppose, but the plane had flipped on contact with the water killing everyone on board==what would the verdict be? If that is the case, what role does “luck” have to do with these judgments? Hello????))
#18–Macguy==what gibberish. What is this need to manufacture HEROES on a weekly basis? Give them cake and theater and the sheeple can be lead by the nose.
In fact gang the FACTS are worse than we all assumed. While still early enough that everything we have been told can be reversed later==here’s a glaring act of PILOT ERROR:
“But what makes the outcome such a miracle was that the jet was travelling at 260 kph when it smashed into the water, and could easily have broken up”
SO!! It was a miracle. Guy landed way too hot and should be fired for not following water landing protocols. He tried to kill everyone with that speed not bled off to lower than normal landing speed.
I guess by definition he is unskilled and a coward.
Hah, I say Hah!!!!!!
((PS–by the way, if everything happened just as we all suppose, but the plane had flipped on contact with the water killing everyone on board==what would the verdict be? If that is the case, what role does “luck” have to do with these judgments? Hello????))
http://bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/01/16/plane-crash-in-new-york/sullenberger-miracle-landing-helps-jet-stay-afloat.html
Can’t wait for the smoking gun to reveal he’s a “performer” for this site
http://www.older4me.com/
Bobo said, “But what makes the outcome such a miracle was that the jet was travelling at 260 kph when it smashed into the water”
Umm, 140 knots is about the stall speed for that plane. Have you ever flown a plane and practiced dead stick landings?
Looking up the landing speed of the Airbus A320 I came across this excellent short read of another successful water landing in 2002 AND more interestingly a review of why that plane did crash whose video has been posted several times ((as I surmised–lack of controls==not skill or courage))
http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090115.wcrash_landing16/BNStory/International/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
The landing speed of the Airbus A320 is 250kph–unfair I think to say 10kph over made the safe landing a miracle. Still–a better landing would have been at 240kph. Made me think of another PILOT ERROR though–he should have turned to the right and landed WITH THE WIND–assuming the takeoff in the same general direction was into the wind.
Details. Assumptions. Mindless Hero Worship. Has Joe the Plumber gotten back from Israel yet?
#23–Paddy==you might be thinking mph rather than knots?
http://airnewzealand.co.nz/aboutus/fleet/aircraft_statistics.htm
My posts triumph on their own merit. No appeal to my massive authority is needed.
# 24 bobbo said, “The landing speed of the Airbus A320 is 250kph–unfair I think to say 10kph over made the safe landing a miracle. Still–a better landing would have been at 240kph.”
Since you are obviously not a pilot you wouldn’t have a clue as to the variables that effect stall speed. But, keep posting nonsense. It is entertaining.
#26–OK PaDDy-Zero==you made me do it. Stall speed is how fast you ever provide a link to any BS you post==like any link to the stall speed of the Airbus. Why not just claim there is “a consensus” the stall speed is whatever you want and then say that was the speed used by the pilot.
Don’t let facts get in the way of hero worship.
#22–Angel==I’ve looked twice and still can’t tell if our pilot is the guy on the right.
Spooky.
A320
Take off speed:
170 mph
275 km/h
150 kts
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/performance/q0088.shtml
There ya go booboo.
And no. I meant knots… Let me know when you pass you licensing tests…
Paddy-Zero===heh, heh, heh. What are you doing, pulling a “named” on me? So far in every link provided TO ME, by named or yourself, the proffered proof goes directly AGAINST your argument.
As a hint, my link and your link are in agreement and you have misread both.
Post back when you give up and I’ll give you more grief.
Yes, bobbo, what these mere mortals can’t possibly understand is that performance like that is nothing special; it’s in the blood for pilots like you and me, eh?
Okay, maybe ‘cepting this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DAsrbtR4wY
RBG