The Aviation Herald Last Update: Tuesday, Mar 3rd 2009 10:48Z
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Events from Apr 20th 2004 to Mar 2nd 2009
Accident: US Airways A320 at New York on Jan 15th 2009, ditched in Hudson River
By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Mar 3rd 2009 10:48Z, last updated
Tuesday, Mar 3rd 2009 10:48Z
Bill Nix was passenger on the flight, which began perfectly normal, the usual routine briefing occured, and the departure went normal. Bill was seated in 25B next to the last seat row and chatted with a fellow passenger seated in 25A during the departure, when he heard a noise that he thought was an explosion in the belly of the plane.
The aisle became hazy with smoke, smell of fuel developed. "There was the most unnatural silence at this time and it all seems unreal." The engine sounds had stopped, the noise from the air conditioning ceased. "I looked at the guy next to me in 25A and he at me but we did not say a word, just a look of disbelief." Bill realized they had lost power and the airplane had started to descend. Bill thought for the first time they were going to die. The silence was interrupted by a passenger a few rows forward, who stated one of the engines was on fire. Then it got silent again. Bill feared the aircraft might explode with one engine on fire and the tanks full of fuel. They were over New York City with nothing but buildings below and they were descending fast. The thought they were going to die crossed his mind a second time.
When Bill looked out of the window, they were below the tops of the buildings already and he realized, they were heading for the river. "At the time that seemed to be a good thing, we may survive after all. I heard nothing, not even the wind, until the pilot said brace for impact, then a small child started crying." The "brace for impact" brought it all home, that they were in big trouble. "We had a very rough landing, almost as soon as we hit the water we felt water splashing into our faces and by the time we stopped it was about ankle deep." The water had been spraying through the floor though no cracks were visible. The touchdown and slow down felt like a long hard vibration, as only the tail hit water at first then the rest of the airplane came down about a second or two later. No jolts were felt during the slow down.
"A lot of people rushed to the back of the plane and tried to exit the rear door, the flight attendant shouted 'no the door is under water go out the front'. That was the third time I thought I may die, this time from drowning." Still, a number of folks tried to open the rear doors, one person forced the way to the door and opened the door a little. Flight attendant Doreen Welsh physically stopped the door from opening all the way preventing the airplane from completely filling with water. Bill was in water up to waist level within a few seconds. Bill was sure, that had the door been fully opened, the people near the rear of the airplane would have all drowned as they were packed together trying to get out, so that they could not have turned around quickly enough.
Bill headed forwards, a big bottleneck formed at the overwing exits, the entire front of the airplane was empty. FA Welsh shouted that people should go to the forward doors, but people still wanted to get out through the wing exits. She shouted, that people should climb over the seats to reach the forward doors, some of the passengers actually crawled over the seats. Bill got past the middle doors and went out the left passenger door into the raft. He immediately called his wife via mobile phone telling her he was okay.
Around 70% of the people were already outside of the airplane either on the wings or in the rafts, when the first boat arrived, then a second joined and many more arrived. "I began to feel pretty good. All we had to do was deal with the frigid water and cold air a few more minutes." The plane was sinking and drifting, the raft was still attached to the aircraft and the sinking plane threatened to take the raft with it. "The pilot asked someone on the boat to throw us a knife which they did and he cut us away from the plane, so I guess there was actually four times that day I thought I was gone."
"I was picked up by, I believe a tour boat, the Athena. A great place to be, on a warm boat headed to land. We were taken to the NY side and pier 78. Soon we had a lot of support from the Red Cross, fire department, police etc, we got warm and partially dry. Buses were provided to take us to a hotel, I went to the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza at LGA. They had a room set up for us to check in and food. They had assigned me a room for the night and I had a key in about three minutes. Everyone through out the whole process was wonderful. I slept very little that night, got up at 5:00 the next morning and was met by a USAIR representative who had arranged a car for the airport and had our tickets. She walked us through check in and security, got us boarded about 45 minutes before the boarding process, also introduced us the the pilot who promised us a smooth flight, and it was."
"We were fortunate to have Captain Sullenberger as our pilot but I don't think most people realize that flight attendant Welsh may have saved dozens of lives by stopping someone from opening the back door and letting the river rush in. She was very active from the time of the bird hit until everyone was out of the plane, even with her injuries she did a great job."
Being back on dry ground passengers started to chat to each other. "Most talk was about the frigid water and everyone wanted to say thank you to the pilot, even then we realized we were lucky to have him. Most could not believe it happened so quickly and we were ok and on land. The one thing I heard the most and I thought of the most was how could this happen and everyone on board lived. With something of this magnitude you almost expect disaster."
"I talked to and heard recounts of the landing from people up front and it was like talking to someone in a different plane. I think the back of the plane absorbed most of the impact. Some people up front told me it was almost like a normal landing. It was a different story in the back."
"So far I have not been in another plane, but I'm sure I will soon. I am having some good days and some bad days and a few sleepless nights, but it will get better with time. For now it's just good to be here", Bill Nix closed his account.
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