Fogive me if this has all ready been asked, but does anyone know if the gear was up or down? I would assume the flaps were fully extended.
It would be very interesting to know exactly how they accomplished such a perfect ditching.

Seems this ditching switch was quite a life-saver.Saved the crew from securing aircraft by memory and allowed them to concentrate on flying the thing.In a more conventional aircraft,they would have had to flip a few switches from memory.Forget one(outflow valve or aural warn cb) and the outcome may have been quite different.I dont normally say this,but Airbus score a point here.Nice design feature.

ACCP,

I suspect you are not a professional pilot given your post. I think the last one to think he was a hero were any of the pilots or the Flight Attendants.

Pilots make extremely important decisions every flight, some as in this , life and death. Quite obviously the Captain and F/O made the best decision given their situation.

It's not about saving ones rear....

there was a pic on tv earlier that someone took from an office or somewhere i guess just before it ditched where it looks like the gear was up. can i ask the pilots, would that be a standard procedure if 1) you had time and 2) you knew u would have to make a ditching? maybe that helped the flotation? congratulations to all the crew on board, wether its the flight deck, or in the cabin, they all did their jobs in great professionalism and thats what we are here to do.
im currently training for cabin crew at easyjet, and just the day before we were learning about emergency senarios including ditching. i can look at this, and learn what can be done. well done to all crew.

Rananim
 

Your post raises the touchy subject of how brainy the A320 is compared with brand B.

Two elements have already been mentioned: stall protection and the ditching button.

Whilst the 737 is a robust old dear, the thousands of best-brain manhours that went into making the A320 a "better mousetrap" appear to be showing.

SLF and non-engineer, but I recall seeing photos showing hemispherical (anti-bird?) grilles fitted over the intakes of the fragile jet engines of Me 262 fighters. Any application to modern jets?

Also, pilot of Air Canada 143 B767-200 who made a deadstick landing with no fuel was a glider pilot as in this case.

In every aircraft that I have ever flown (and trust me, that is a lot) that had a retractable landing gear, all water landings, ditching, is with gear up. Flaps and leading edge devices down, degrees depends on type of aircraft, but gear up, always.

i wont give up my fight!! LOL! :=:E If i dont fly how rubbish would life be!

However!! IT ONLY TAKES A FEW BIRDS! I MEAN BIRDS CAN BRING A PLANE DOWN LIKE THAT! THATS SCARY SHAT MAN! I HATE IT I HATE IT!:\:sad:

Ok enough of my irrational brain... i think that pilot is awesome!:ok:

hero status
 

Getting that plane down in one piece demonstrated the exceptional skills of the pilots. But that was all it was; some damn good flying.

A hero is one that knowingly places himself at risk to come to the aid of others. Captain Sullenberger stayed on the plane after the others exited and waded through ice water one more time to insure everyone was off. Surely he knew that the danger of hypothermia, and the chance that the plane might go down, put him at great risk. That made him a hero.

Apologies to start - I am not an ATPL. I haven't read all this thread but there seems to be little reference to the Captain's experience as a glider pilot / instructor, reported (from FAA records) on the NY Times website and elsewhere.

Whilst of course a professional ATPL would have the training and procedures for a ditching, maybe that added experience of flying 'sans moteur' helped him to be less fazed? Most (private) power pilots I know think it a real challenge if the fan stops. We glider pilots consider there is less to go wrong without an engine!

But maybe the Captain drew on his gliding experience, not least in having an intuitive sense of the glide slope enabling him to assess rapidly his options, the hold off at the right speed etc. And particularly keeping wings absolutely level without loooking at the panel (what was left working!). Interesting, the Gimli episode pilot was also a glider pilot, as was the guy who got to the Azores (? I think) when out of fuel en route from Canada, spotting a dead stick landing at an island military base after a glide from some 35,000 ft or so over the Atlantic

Just my penniesworth.

Oh, and I hear the CAA is considering compulsoary gliding courses for ATPLs. Should solve the recession problem for gliding clubs.:)

Anyway, as others say, brilliant piloting.

Dysag - in Direct Law (which it would be with both engines flamed out) you CAN STALL AN AIRBUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

David Roberts - it's actually quite easy for us 'Avec moteur' pilots to fly wings level without looking at the panel, and the speed to fly (not bothering to refer to my QRH) would be green dot clean and whatever (generally) the bug is on the PFD... Also a 'birdy' told me what flightpath angle to fly...Et voila..

Not just the Airbus that has 'ditching' Pb, I seem to recall having one on the venerable Avro RJ...

Why are you knocking the mayor? (apart from the 1:1 gliding ratio). He mentions the whole crew, when he offers the "keys". One of the passengers interviewed: We went faster and faster. I'm pretty sure they went slower and slower.

Apologies if this has already been posted:

BBC NEWS | World | A pilot's eye view of NY crash flight

A computer generated simulation of the flight.

Well done all crew. Maybe those whistles on the life jackets will come in handy one day after all.

CNN Video
 

CNN just ran a video clip of the aircraft making what appear to be a turn to line up with the river.

Might add something to the discussion.

Also see thread in this forum about Hero pilots "why is that?" more comments from CNN with questions

The closer to the ground (OK, water in this case) you are, the faster it seems....

Referring to post 404 - the engine pods are designed to shear off during ditching.. At least that's the plan..

No ditching button/s on any Boeing up to 747-400 as far as I know, dunno about the later kites like the 777, etc.

NTSB briefing 4PM EST
 

Is it sent live on Internet somewhere?

Float endorsment
 

Those pilots did a hellva job if those guys don,t have float endorsments I,d personally sign them off.