Originally Posted by
bubbers44
Sully could have landed any airliner in the Hudson that day. He was an excellent pilot. He was restricted on how much he could pull up but he still planned the glide to a picture perfect ditching. His speed control kept the computer from screwing up his flare otherwise the computer would have put him in the Hudson at a high sink rate breaking up the airplane and costing many lives. If you can not flare beyond a certain AOA you can not break your descent rate.
Are we reading the same report ???
FDR data indicated that the airplane was below green dot speed and at VLS or slightly less for most of the descent, and about 15 to 19 knots below VLS during the last 200 feet.
The NTSB concludes that the captain’s difficulty maintaining his intended airspeed during the final approach resulted in high AOAs, which contributed to the difficulties in flaring the airplane, the high descent rate at touchdown, and the fuselage damage. (See additional discussion in section 2.7.1.)
The computer didn't stop him flaring, or restrict him - his difficulty maintaining airspeed did that. He didn't have enough enegry to flare when he needed it.
Note: before deciding I or NTSB are criticising the crew: Could it have been done better ? Sure - if flying an armchair with plenty of time to read up on it and a few goes to practice (and BA38 could have made the runway too...). On the day - excellent decision making, CRM and airmanship and the right result. Hampered by a checklist designed for use at 20000ft, he got the speeds a bit wrong and bent the airframe a bit more than he might have. I'll take that any day given those circumstances.