I've seen numerous posts about the plane landing downwind. I don't think that is true. I'm not sure what KTEB was reporting, but there is an official weather station nearby in central park, KNYC. It showed westerly winds of about 8 knots a few minutes before the time of the accident. Also at that time, planes were of course departing runway 4 at LGA, however they were arriving on runway 31 at LGA. So, the A320 likely had a very mild crosswind and a few knots of current in his favor. Not terrible conditions, and certainly not enough to cause much of a chop on the water. Sea plane pilots are most afraid of a clear glass surface because it is the most difficult to sense height, and that certainly wasn't the case either. Being winter was actually a stroke of luck as there is a lot more river traffic across from mid-town in the summer that could have gotten in the way of the runway.
I don't think it is known publicly if the APU was running or not. US Airways seems to have an aggressive APU off policy to save every drop of fuel, so I doubt it was running on takeoff. Was the crew able to start the APU in the air? This likely would have been more useful than starting the engines. Assuming no APU, I've heard that the turbofans might provide useful hydraulic pressure above 200 knots (and that's assuming the turbofans can still spin around after the catastrophic failure) and the RAT can work above 140 knots. How much control would they have had of the airplane below 140 knots?
Another point, the flight was AWE1549. Note that AWE is the American West 'Cactus' callsign, rather than USA 'US AIR.' Since the merger, the airline has been operating internally as two separate airlines, with old Am West crews and old US Airways crews. The captain's bio shows that he flew for PSA which was later absorbed by the old US AIR. So has the post-America West US AIRWAYS finally merged its flight crews? Furthermore, it is nice to see that US AIRWAYS is finally providing a free drink to passengers after their new policy began on August 1 2008. A little too much though, I'd say. I'm curious if the safety briefing was conducted by the crew or by video. I've noticed that some US Airways A319s at least that previously used a video for the briefing have reverted to crew announcements. Maybe they haven't bothered to keep the video system in service.
Congratulations to the crew, CRM, the passengers, the rescuers, the aeronautical engineers, and those who supported all of the above. Even a restaurant in New Jersey shut down and provided hot soup and clean table clothes for triage. There was a report that one passenger didn't bother to wait and catch a ferry, but swam to shore. (YIKES!) He was treated for hypothermia but will be ok. Not the move I would have taken on the Hudson, even in the summer! Lucky he found a ladder or someone to pull him out.
Last edited by Feathered; 19th Jan 2009 at 16:13.