Flight 1549 Reconstruction

Absolutely incredible. Pilot deserves every accolade he got and will get.

http://www.climategate.com/penn-state-climategate-whistleblowers

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Freakin' awesome!

Amazing to view in real time and with all the background graphics to really get a better understanding of the city and what Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger had to deal with that day!

He laid it down in the river and that is totally a miracle and by the grace of God that there were no lives lost that day.

Makes me want to stand up and shout.

Like I said, Freakin' Awesome!!!

Looks as though he manually pulled back on the stick for alt in order to decrease airspeed in the last minute.

Cool as a cucumber. I want that man for my pilot!

Holy Cow that's amazing!!!!!

Wow!! Good thing New York's air traffic controllers understand Brooklynese. I had a hard time making out what they were saying.

Unbelievably cool. Thanks for posting Kate!

Gives me some hope for mankind and for Western civilization when I see such things.

Louise, it's a radio traffic thing. Especially amoung airplane drivers and ground controllers. It can be incredibly difficult to pick up what they are saying, but to them it is business as usual.

I basically grew up at an airport since my dad was addicted to flying and fixing anything that flew, and was witness to some pretty fancy flying.

What those two pulled off in the cockpit of that Airbus is nothing less than amazing. And I think both would agree there was a some serious luck involved as well. That they had that much empty Hudson River to set the aircraft down in, in the middle of the work day? Some hardcore horse shoe going on there.

But there was one guy with a thick Brooklyn accent. I think the pilot made the best decision. Better to land a plane on fire in the water than make it worse by landing on a runway. Still, it was pretty amazing.

I've seen this before... but it still amazes me.

This typifies all that is good with America - cooperation, communication, excellent decision making and use of experience and skill

Excellent flying. Just excellent.

Have been following this since it happened almost a year ago.As a former "to cute to shoot and to yellow to fight"(as Airborne used to call us)Flight Engineer,what Scully and his co did is amazing.But remember the Gimli Goose?The Azores Glider?And now this one? All three have one thing in common.....the pilots had glider experience.Having flown with many,many pilots(and yeah,I have my license too),if they learn the basics from gliders,9 times out of ten,they will save your butt.I never flew gliders,but my youngest daughter started on them.And I will fly anywhere with her anytime compared to some other commercial pilots.
Louise....pilots and ATC speak a language known only to us.I don't know how to describe it.It sounds like complete gibberish,but we get more info across in 10 seconds then anybody else will in 10 minutes.

No doubt good job by the crew...all of them.
But, the loss of life may have been total had they landed on the other 99.99999% of the earth's water.
Instead, they had the good fortune to be inside one of the largest citys on the planet, with lots of cross river ferry service right there.

Again, cudos to the crew, but all is well mostly due location,location,location.

All three have one thing in common.....the pilots had glider experience...

Following that logic, wouldn't you be better off with a helicopter pilot?

"All three have one thing in common.....the pilots had glider experience...

Following that logic, wouldn't you be better off with a helicopter pilot?

Posted by: glasnost at January 13, 2010 12:47 PM "

No glasnost....my point is Scully KNEW he had to land(crash?) that Airbus at 11.2 degrees AOA,otherwise it was game over.They don't teach you that in commercial school.Any angle above or below that,the engines hit,or you wing over,or you just flatley fall out of the sky.Try to think of it as skipping a rock over water.

We have some of the best flyers up here in Canuckistan.On a flight departing YYZ for SFO a tire came off during take off striking the wing causing flap damage and hydraulic leak.The aircraft shook so much that there was a fine mist of dust in the air.After overcoming the initial shock of what just happened I looked into the cabin from my forward jump seat to see about a hundred and twenty sets of saucer eyes all staring at me.I called the crew in the back to tell them the obvious,get ready cause this is an emergency.The captain told me I had ten minutes to prepare the crew and passengers for a heavy landing,no time to dump fuel.We blew a tire on the same side while landing causing a fire starboard side which was quickly put out by fire fighters waiting for us.The landing was so loud that I couldn't hear my own evacuation commands,and I've given parade square drill in the military.Once another aircraft was found only three out of a full load of passengers were too shocked to try the trip again.I still count my lucky stars that our Captain was so capable and avoided making headlines that day.

I'll always come at this from the air traffic control side, and I still get a little choked up when Sully says they'll end up in the Hudson.

You can hear the gears turning in the controller's head -- don't panic, you've got other traffic, get everything moving behind the scenes. He does an amazing job as well, given the information he had.

Justthinkin -- Glider pilot or not, those guys run numerous simulations on emergencies. They have checklists in case of an emergency landing that cover all situations.

I was amazed at how calm everyone was, too.

One of the things flying and combat have taught me---which seems to apply in life generally---is in reality we don't make the decisions----circumstances do---we just have to recognize and act on that decision....
That said Sully in reality managed to get that airbus to land on the water like a duck...literally get the plane to stall/stop at that critical momment....sorta like a bird landing on a wire but exactly like the duck/goose.

Which makes me recall something back in the late 90's. I was motoring something big, with a lousy heater, one cold spring morning, south of Minot at dawn. The road-side sloughs were frozen over glassy smooth. I spotted a wild goose doing an approach----all very picturesque and iconic----until contact......then pure comedy....
Dispite the chilly cab, I reflected that some power had just provided me with a superb diversion.....no atheists in fox-holes ya-know.

I echo the wows. Hope a simulation of this event becomes standard for pilot training.

Amazing. And amazing that I just happen to be reading "Sully" Sullenberger's book, "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters."

First, Captain Sullenberger says he is eternally grateful for his military training. He was a highly disciplined officer, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, where he was awarded the "Outstanding Cadet in Airmanship," and he trained as a fighter pilot.

He says about what happened to his airbus: "There are three general rules about any aircraft emergency. ... and for those of us trained in the military, these rules are codified: Maintain aircraft control ... Analyze the situation and take proper action ... Land as soon as conditions permit."

He says that his glider experience really didn't have much to do with the way he landed his airplane in the Hudson: " ... I think what helped me was that I had spent years flying jet airplanes and had paid close attention to emergency management."

My heart has been in my mouth today as I've been reading his account of Flight 1549's misfortune of having TWO engines fail because of a flock of Canada Geese. With one engine, it probably would have been possible for he and his co-pilot to land the plane at a nearby airfield. With no engines operative, and the plane descending rapidly, he made a very calculated decision to land in the Hudson.

He's an outstanding person -- and he credits all of his life experiences with having given him the ability to focus on the first priorities: keeping the airbus flying and landing it without mishap in the river.

He's also extremely humble.

h.ryan and batb....maybe i am too old....but we were taught....at the first sign of an emergency....sit back and wind your watch for 30 seconds,while winding,assess,saved my butt twice...but do they have watches that wind now??

There are good things in life.

Wow. Give the guy a raise!!! He must have antifreeze in his blood to fly that coll under those conditions.

'Great interview with Sully:

http://fora.tv/2009/11/30/Highest_Duty_Captain_Chesley_Sullenberger#fullprogram

The three A's...Airspeed, Altitude and Attitude.

Syncro

I've read articles regarding the philosophy of aircraft design between Airbus and Boeing.

Airbus trust's the computer, Boeing trust's the pilot; as final decision maker.

The difference being an Airbus ended up in the drink because the pilot was overridden by the the computer due to engine collision algorithms that rejected the pilot demand to increase power to avoid crashing.

A pilot on a Boeing plane can override the computer to increase thrust and may have gotten the plane to land on a runway assuming flight capability.

It all comes down to how much damage was done to the engines vs one over the other but the philosophy remains something to think about.

Tomorrow's the anniversary of Flight 1549's narrow escape from the jaws of death. I wonder what's going through Sully Sullenberger's mind right now?

Another admirable aspect of this gentleman and his family is that they train seeing-eye dogs.