Just watched the TV news - the bit I really liked was the passenger relating that one of the flight crew gave him his shirt off his back so he could stay warm - that's what I call devotion to duty. It's amazing what human beings can do when faced with adversity.

I think everyone involved can hold their heads up high - let's also bear in mind the emergency services who were on the scene within minutes. Watching the diver jump in from the chopper in record time was fantastic. All the boats that rushed to help - also the air traffic controllers who were onto it within seconds.

Mayor Bloomberg
 

NYC Mayor Bloomberg was passing out medals and commendations this morning and mentioned that airliners are NOT gliders. Then he stated that they had a glide ratio of about 1:1 and that the pilot did a remarkable job considering...

Someone should clue him in.:ugh:

wow
 

i think it is amazing that the pilot landed the plane so perfectly! Well done to him and his crew!:D

On another note its a bit worrying that so many of you pilots are shocked that his attempt was sucessful. I am just a normal girl from the uk who has a facination with plane crashes as i am so shat scared of the dam things!! I fly but i HATE IT! I am obsessed with air crash investigation and am aware that this is one of the only succesful landings in water. The ethiopian plane broke up in the sea and yes there were survivors, but also many fatalities. So my fears are correct cause not even you guys are convinced that if you had to land in the water , that you would make it!! I hope this has given you some faith!:rolleyes:

Hell will i ever get over this fear! No friggin way!:}

So the FO was sat there twiddling his thumbs then? He wasn't part of the multi crew cockpit? Like I said, TEAM effort!!!:ok:

Do we know who was pilot handling? As with the BA 777 we may well end up with a great captain running the show and a great F/O doing his skipper and everyone else proud.

And the cabin crew, -well they're always superstars!

Difference with the ethiopian crew was that they had a nut in the flight deck with them trying to kill them all as I recall.

Bondgirl78, whatever you do, don't take up quantitative methods!!!!!! - You'll never go out again!!

Ditching - keep it clean save for flap if you need it and land along the crest of the swell. those are the two fundamentals!

Well, IF it was multiple birdstrikes esp our old Canada Goose friends, don't forget that these creatures weight in at up to 20-24 lbs and fly in formations numbering hundreds. Even allowing for some over-engineering, an engine certified to survive an impact with a 4 lb bird (frozen or unfrozen!) is going to stand no chance.

Statistically, such strikes always have been and always will be just a matter of time....

I take my hat off to all concerned. Let this be a lesson in 'what went right'. :D

Off another board -

Air Fare to Caribbean resort during the coldest day of the year $10
1st bag fee $25
2nd bag fee $50
Pretzels and a soda on board $10

Pilot that just saved your @$$ so you could live to enjoy another day!!!!!!!!!!!!! Priceless

A message from you local airline pilot union. :ok:

I believe I am correct in saying that a reason for many of the fatalities on the Ethiopian ditching is that passengers inflated their life jackets before they attempted to exit the aircraft contrary to all safety briefings.

I thought these comments on facebook were very apt:-

Original Thought

Cnn Interesting Interviews + Videos
 

Sorry about previous post - cannot embed links to videos so that they work correctly .

Just go to CNN and look for these tiltles on the list of videos .

Witness describes rescue Adam Weiner office worker speaks to Wolf Blitzer good description of landing

Passenger heard a 'loud bang' Interview with Albert Panero passenger recorded within 15 minutes of incident

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/video/u....cnn.88x49.jpg
Surviving a plane crash CNN's Deborah Feyerick looks at how to survive a plane crash.

How Many Pilots ?
 

Haven't read every reply on this thread, but I'm a bit fed up with every news bulletin praising "The Pilot".

Excuse my ignorance, but perhaps you aviators can elighten me; Does this aircraft type not have two pilots, and in such an emergency, would they not both be working as hard / skillfully as each other to deliver the result ?

The details will eventually emerge and undoubtedly the whole crew deserves the plaudits. It would have been a complicated and busy time for the crew but if in a double engine failure and no apu the aircraft would have on emerg elec config power (RAT) and only the LHS instrumentation would have been working so I would expect the LHS to have been flying. The RHS would have been equally busy and in this case was integral in the successful outcome of any pilots worst scenario, as were the cabin crew in the aftermath.
My respect and compliments
GG

Yes, the Captain's a hero...

First Officer had a day off did he? They were a CREW and no-one in the media seems to recognise this!

Not only that but the Cabin Crew must be praised for managing the evacuation in those conditions!

They are ALL heros, not just him. :ugh:

Another factor in the Ethiopian ditching incident was that the hijackers were in the cockpit and grabbed the yoke just prior to splashdown. The result was that a wing caught the water first, which greatly worsened the impact and undoubtedly prevented many of the passengers from evacuating. And as we know, it didn't help that many of them inflated their life jackets before exiting the aircraft as the cabin filled with water.

Cretan

as some idiots are proposing here - yes, let's nuke the damn things flying into our habitat! let's kill all the animals, and put an asphalt to their sanctuaries, so nothing of this sort happens again.
:ugh:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5...ashmainxf1.jpg

someone didn't pay attention to flight attendant's preflight safety mumbo-jumbo...

Excellent Job :ok:

the punters also got a real NY welcome;)

also this was a great learning experience for all-planes are cute:}

ETOPS:ouch:

edited to say: I put on ashes and sackcloth in regards to some of my prior comments about Airbus that ditching switch is ingenious

PA

ACARS wrote: "PPRUNE has just over 7000 people logged on. Looks like highest ever."

I don't know... I know that after BA 038 landed short at LHR, there were many times that one could not even log on to PPRUNE.

There were many blessings with this incident... first, that it occurred during daylight hours. (Do geese even fly at night?) Second, the weather (wind, visibility etc.) was relatively benign. And third, if one HAD to ditch an airliner into 40 degree F water, there probably is not a better place in the world than New York Harbor... the site was crawling with boats, both civilian as well as FDNY, NYPD and USCG within minutes.

forget the hero thing
 

I agree with the above: it's the whole crew that's involved and they all deserve full credit for doing a superb job, especially the cabin crew for the evacuation.

As regards all the hype about "the pilot" savings so many lives... I'm sorry to say that if something similar were to happen to me, the motivating force as far as I'm concerned, would be to save my own skin. It so happens that in performing such a skillful trick as a successful ditching, everyone else has a chance to get out alive too. But as I would be trying to keep the wings level in the middle of the river watching the speed bleed off, I wouldn't be thinking "I've got 155 people sitting in the back, I'd better get this one right..." I would be trying just as hard if I were on my own.

So, forget the hero pilot thing, but praise the skill and be thankful for good luck.

Anybody see this pick yet?

It's on the good Captain's fan page on Facebook. Not sure of authenticity.

Photos from Fans of Sully Sullenberger! | Facebook

There is no 10 knot current in the Hudson... that is about as fast as the rapids on a rafting river! The Hudson River by NYC is a tidal estuary, current a couple of knots as most.