US Airways flight crashes into the Hudson River [Old Bumped Thread]

[BlackArcher101]

It's common protocol for the captain to take control of the plane in any emergency with the FO performing checklists.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by redforever

no, not at all.

I mean, the skills of this pilot were phenomenal and on the day, hour and minute when it counted, he called on all his skills and pulled this landing off.

But at the same time, no matter how skilled this pilot was, to not lose one life? For this to happen where he could land on the Hudson River rather than the middle of a large city or suburb? or in the middle of the ocean where ferry boats would not be available to quickly come to the rescue of all the passenger?

..... yeah, it is a miracle because usually the outcome is totally the opposite.

Sorry, I fail to see why it's a "miracle"
Lets see, your taking off in New York City and lose both engines to a bunch of canada geese (bad luck in it self) so you go hmmm, can't fit on 54th street and theres far too many cabs, central parks has too many trees and we can't make it to another airport...thats it folks were going fishing on the hudson today.

There was no divine miracle, it was pure skill, If it had happened in Calgary with the same pilot he would have picked an RR road. Other pilots may have picked the deerfoot (disaster). He did what he was trained to do for many years, he's a quick thinker under pressure and knows his aircraft...I'm willing to bet he is one of the top 5% skilled pilots in the world the way he pulled this off. And this guy can fly me and my family anywhere anytime.

[MelBridgeman]

Usually - The pilot and FO will split the takeoff and landing duties - in between is the auto pilot.

In this case, as pointed out, if the FO was flying the takeoff - once an emergency was declared, it is all in the captain's hands, and the FO would be "flying" through various checklists....

It always takes teamwork to fly a plane, but in the end the flying and any maneuver is at the hands of the captain.....

But the fact that no large passenger plane has EVER landed on water without breaking up, you must conclude that along with the pilots skill and training..there was a bit of luck..and where there is luck, some like to use the word MIRACLE...

[T@T]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Usually - The pilot and FO will split the takeoff and landing duties - in between is the auto pilot.

In this case, as pointed out, if the FO was flying the takeoff - once an emergency was declared, it is all in the captain's hands, and the FO would be "flying" through various checklists....

It always takes teamwork to fly a plane, but in the end the flying and any maneuver is at the hands of the captain.....

But the fact that no large passenger plane has EVER landed on water without breaking up, you must conclude that along with the pilots skill and training..there was a bit of luck..and where there is luck, some like to use the word MIRACLE...

Not quite true, in 2001 or 02 (can't remember) a 737 landed in a river in Indonesia without breaking the plane apart, there was 1 attendant killed but she hit her head on a doorframe because she wasn't seat-belted in. everyone else survived with little to no injury. But the plane itself didn't breakup.I remember the passengers just walked out of the plane to the shore as the water wasn't deep.
There have been a couple others before the jet airliner age as well, the old 4 prop engine Stratocruiser's had a couple of ditchings and didn't come apart but those things were built like tanks.

[JohnnyB]

I hadn't heard anything of this at all until I looked at this thread. What a cool story this is. I'm sure there is media hype promoting the captain as a hero, and that it's probably annoyingly in the mold of 'entertainment news', but this is still a great story. And what great pictures too.

[Ryan Coke]

I just had to add one last post, because I really don't want my previous posts to seem to negative towards this story. It is a great positive story, and I am proud of the people involved and the praise that they are receiving is well earned. It is the media portrayal I have some issues with, not anything to do with the excellent work the Captain and his crew did.

Having said that, for those of you that said the Captain always flies in an emergency, you are incorrect. Possibly in this type of extreme situation where the only thing left to do was actually the hands and feet of putting the airplane down, I might have taken control as well. But generally I prefer to have the FO fly so that I can manage the situation. The FO's at major airlines are very experienced in their own right, and the difference between Captain and FO is less about ability of actually physically flying the airplane, and more about the judgement and experience when dealing with a situation.

So while the Captain taking control is what happened in this case, and in certain cases it may be prudent, it is certainly not automatic, and very often the opposite is preferred.

In fact in a couple of notable in flight emergencies I experienced when I was an FO, I was the flying pilot throughout and including the landing, so that the Captain could manage the event.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

I just had to add one last post, because I really don't want my previous posts to seem to negative towards this story. It is a great positive story, and I am proud of the people involved and the praise that they are receiving is well earned. It is the media portrayal I have some issues with, not anything to do with the excellent work the Captain and his crew did.

Having said that, for those of you that said the Captain always flies in an emergency, you are incorrect. Possibly in this type of extreme situation where the only thing left to do was actually the hands and feet of putting the airplane down, I might have taken control as well. But generally I prefer to have the FO fly so that I can manage the situation. The FO's at major airlines are very experienced in their own right, and the difference between Captain and FO is less about ability of actually physically flying the airplane, and more about the judgement and experience when dealing with a situation.

So while the Captain taking control is what happened in this case, and in certain cases it may be prudent, it is certainly not automatic, and very often the opposite is preferred.

In fact is a couple of notable in flight emergencies I experienced when I was an FO, I was the flying pilot throughout and including the landing, so that the Captain could manage the event.

I'm pretty interested in all these flying stories and would love to hear some of yours... especially coming from a Pilot (I presume)

[Ryan Coke]

Originally Posted by fotze

I hope not, a pilot whose username is after a highball you get for a dollar at the bar would be like a rape counselor name roofieBoy or a doctor named Nuclearfart.

Where the heck can I get a Crown and Coke for a buck??

I didn't know Nuclearfart was a Doc.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I'm pretty interested in all these flying stories

I only have one that might be considered "interesting"

My instructor was a family friend and took me up for training when he had time away from his real flying job (EPA) anyway, one afternoon on a crapy drizzly day were flying his 172 at about 7k when..wham, engine burps,coughs and quits. Don quickly took the controls,trys restarting the engine with no luck and radioed Sydney airport with mayday and tells them he's going to have to find a road after we get under the clouds. I am absolutely freaked at this point and all Don says is don't worry kid this happened to me over the channel twice (he was a WWII vet) and this plane glides better than a hurricane and I made it back both times. (didn't help me for some reason)

Anyway, we descend out of the clouds at about 2k and the only road in site was a small little dirt road but it was lined with poles so Don tells me "buckle up tight" were going land in that field over there, "it's nice and flat" I can't even explain how scared i was but he seemed calm as hell.

Don cranks the flaps way down to get as slow as possible ( hard to slow a dead-stick plane as the prop actually usually acts as an air-brake when its spinning) we touch down at about 70 knots and everything was fine except the bumps and the damn barbwire fence that we couldn't avoid!!!

The thing almost flipped us it stopped us so fast but we were all-right and I let out a big woohoo and for some reason I felt the need to get the hell out of that plane very fast, I jump out slip on the wet grass and go chest first into a big sloppy cow paddy.

I'll never forget that day and mostly because everytime I can smell a cow field I think of it.

[burn_this_city]

Everyone's favorite sh1tbirds were the ones who downed the plane.

Blame Canada.... Geese

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/12/hud...ese/index.html

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I'll be sure to catch the inevitable episode of Mayday on this.

Going to bump the thread to mention- this will be aired Wednesday at 8:00 MDT

http://www.discoverychannel.ca/Showpage.aspx?sid=12966