A passenger wrote:
As to warning the cabin that it was going to be a ditching? I understand that it might have been good to have warned the senior CC who could then have phoned the other crew positions to warn them - but I doubt that many of the pax would have benefitted from the information. I would not be surprised to learn that some had taken their cabin baggage out with them (or tried to) because we are that stupid
These comments are an example for a lot of vivid discussion about announcements to passengers and cabin of US 1549. The dicussion is interesting but due to - understandable - lack of practical experience it is missing the point.
If a pilot dead sticks a damaged 100.000ibs airliner to a crash landing he simply faces death starring in his very eyes. Under that gaze he must keep control over the plane and decide for the least deadly spot to crashland within barly a minute.
In the history of aviation many a crew froze and did not pass the ultimate test. Many pilots succeded staying in what was left of control of their plane. Transswede or Austrian 111 would be recent examples for that. The reports of surviving pilots show that everything they had was needed to keep the plane flying and the crash survivable.
No crew I ever heard of had the capacity left for a cabin announcement - and nobody ever blamed them.
When pilots first heard the braking news of the landing in the Hudson we knew that the crew must have been up to the task. But by chance we were able to tell just two hours later that a least the captain had been outstanding. A passenger of US1549 told CNN in an interview about the "brace for impact" command. (and by now we even learned that the crew did regular checklist work including standard challenge and response)
To have that extra capacity is really outstanding. You will never know if you are that good until the very moment of a similar challenge.
Hope IŽll never find out.