Several days ago, a pilot friend sent me an email with a most interesting attachment. It seems that Jeppesen, the universally well-known publisher of aeronautical charts, had produced a special edition approach chart, detailing the Hudson Miracle Approach, as performed by the crew of Cactus 1549, the US Airways A320 that famously and successfully ditched in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. – Aircrew Buzz
American Digest has the chart. It is pretty cool.
I feel sorry for Sully that he had to be portrayed in the movie by a piece-of-shit leftist asshole like Tom Hanks.
It’s hard to imagine a more amazing story of a heroic pilot! Guys like Sully Make America Great!
I heard rumblings after the fact that there were some concerns (I thought primarily insurance)that were trying to hang fault around him, then the rumblings went away.
I don’t know how much the movie dramatized the hearing, but the testimony from the two pilots that were aiming for an alternate simulated landing at Teterboro admitted that they got it right after 17 attempts was telling.
It truly was a miracle. I hope each and every one of the admin and desk jockey types personally thanked him after the hearing, if not apologized.
Transportation in general went to a no-accident attitude in the late 90s. As if there’s never a true accident, unforeseeable with no one to account, except for how it’s dealt with. Nope. According to the adjusters, there’s always someone supposed to be holding the bag, not matter what the outcome. Right. What he pulled off was nothing short of a miracle. Granted a lot of skill, experience, and good judgment underpinned it, but I do believe G-d smiled on the landing that day.
That chart gave me chills. Imagine facing death head on, and still being able to draw on all your training, experience, and courage to make the exactly correct decisions in scant seconds.
This disaster averted came at a time when America really needed it.
I work no where in the flight arena, yet this incident has been used at least twice in industry training seminars I’ve attended as an example of the importance of precise communication.
There’s a drink named after Sully; two hits of Grey Goose and a splash of water.
Everyone was blessed with perfect weather conditions and clear daylight and a good time of year.
At night, or in a storm, or amid ice and snow, a very different probable outcome.
The flight attendants performed outstandingly in the no-warning water ditching and as always get overlooked by the MSM and the public alike.
Unlike pilots, who get state of the art high tech simulators and constant time for drills,
the flight attendants receive only the bare minimum training to meet compliance requirements from the Airlines.
And water ditchings are only a tiny fraction of that bare minimum training.
So they have to rely on their individual intelligence without any of the support that pilots receive and depend on. Especially in a ditching with rafts, where cooperation, visibility and calm water are essential.
Awesome!