amazing!, fast currents, and catastrophic events,
this is an amazing story and hello from london,
the crew getting the a/c down and the rescue effort was simply spectacular...
having recently sailed in a 90' schooner down the hudson from 59th st pier with the same outgoing tide i can assure you its very fast,
our skipper on the boat said its maybe a current of 3-4 kts at times depending on the moon etc
we were there for full moon and the current was very fast.
the us air a320 touched down near the uss intrepid and within a few minutes had drifted down to 23rd st,
the ntsb spokeswoman today seems to indicate (to me) that info from the capt seems that ''all'' climb power was inhibited so the capt made a landing where he deemed the safest with his speed and height left...the river, HE KNEW HE WASNT GONNA MAKE A RUNWAY...end of,
i am sure this is NOT a case of 'wrong engines were shutdown' and 'there still was a good engine' and 'why didnt he get it to an airport'.....
as most of you are atpl pilots in large jets then some of the input here is simply silly and just people trying to get reactions...
save that for the vile nasty comments you see on youtube please...
this is a pro aviation site so lets keep it like that or respect that if you are not in the profession.
if you look at the timeline v atlitude/speeds and how these events were bleeding off then im sure you will see the river was his only and best option...and it worked, vessels were close by and rescue was immediate.
to end here i must say now that we have had maybe a half dozen or so recent catastrophic events in the immediate or final phase of flight where the crew, and here i am gonna say very importantly the pax (SLF) were NOT expecting this, and the a/c was badly damaged/destroyed and the evacuations' were immediate and unexpected...
such as..
AIR FRANCE A340 landing over run YYZ
BA 777 LHR crash land, double engine lost power on final
RYANAIR 737 crash land CIA (double engine bird stike on final)
IBERIA A340 UIO landing over run
CONTINENTAL 737 DEN rejected t/o
US AIR NYC A320 ditching after t/o double engine ? bird strike ?
there were NO fatalities in these accidents,
but i could go on and mention others not quite so fortunate,
GARUDA,ONE 2 GO, TACA and more,
lets hope the pax really now do start taking note of the critical phase of flight, and assume maybe it may just happen to me one day and be as prepared as you can.
Last edited by rog747; 18th Jan 2009 at 11:59.
Reason: my error