Quote :

"His fat bonus is still being alive"

10/10

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 11:20 AM. Reason : -]

1/16/2009 11:19:33 AM

Quote :

""Nobody panicked. It was women and children first," he said."

Shit, my life has nothing to do with women and kids that I do not know. Sorry.

1/16/2009 1:50:19 PM

is there no video of the actual moment the plane hit the water?

I need to see this footage. How big was the splash? How far did it take for it to stop surfing the waters of the Hudson?

1/16/2009 1:56:42 PM

I would think about 1000 feet of hydroplaning or more, being that the plane did not break, or the bottom did not cave it and allow it to immediately sink.

1/16/2009 1:58:17 PM

I wonder if he dropped the landing gear, just out of habit

1/16/2009 2:17:55 PM

everyone treats the guy like he's some kind of hero, but why is no one asking the obvious question?

Why the heck did an "experienced" pilot fly his plane into a flock of geese in the first place?

1/16/2009 2:51:48 PM

Geese suck. Duh.

1/16/2009 2:52:54 PM

^^You can't just whip an airplane and dodge geese like I can dodge a squirrel with my car, or you can?

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 3:02 PM. Reason : /]

1/16/2009 2:56:06 PM

Quote :

"Why the heck did an "experienced" pilot fly his plane into a flock of geese in the first place? "

Cloud cover maybe?

1/16/2009 3:00:58 PM

im thinkin he saw a bunch of geese and was all like "hey, y'all, watch this!"

1/16/2009 3:02:33 PM

Quote :

"If they were smart they'd fly back. You know what the odds are of one person being involved in 2 commercial airline crashes? It's already like 1 in a hundred million to be killed in 1 crash alone."

Obviously you've never seen the Die Hard films. The exact same shit happens again all the time.

1/16/2009 3:08:53 PM

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95ODOH80&show_article=1

Source: Pilot rejected 2 airport landings

Quote :

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The US Airways pilot who successfully ditched in the Hudson River considered emergency landings at two airports but twice told air controllers he was unable to make them. He told controllers he planned to go into the river, instead. That word comes from a person briefed on pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger's radio communications after his Airbus A320 suffered a double bird strike after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Air traffic controllers first gave Sullenberger directions to return to LaGuardia, but he replied, "unable." Then he saw the Teterboro airstrip in the northern New Jersey suburbs, got clearance to go there, but then again responded, "unable." He then said he was going into the river. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. "

1/16/2009 3:20:26 PM

I've taken flight 1549 before....freaky shit

1/16/2009 3:22:26 PM

Quote :

"Why the heck did an "experienced" pilot fly his plane into a flock of geese in the first place?"

are you kidding? Really?

1) airplanes on take-off are kind of of a fixed course
2) they're not exactly the most nimble things in the world, especially compared to birds with 2 foot wingspans
3) wild animals are a bit unpredictable. what if, for example, there was a big flock sitting on the grass at the end of the runway. the plane goes down the runway, takes off like normal, and the sound spooks the stupid birds, and what do they do? Fly straight up into the source of the sound, instead of going the other direction.
4) might not have even seen them. Could have come from below or from the side
5) Planes hit birds all the time, and 99.9% of the time there is no problem.
6) Attempting to maneuver a 200,000lb, 111 ft wide aircraft ascending at 300 mph around some 2 foot birds is far more dangerous than just running through them

Have you ever hit a squirrel with your car? Or a chipmonk, mouse, raccoon, or deer?
No? Oh, right - because you're an "experienced" driver, i suppose.
just wait....

1/16/2009 3:22:39 PM

Quote :

"im thinkin he saw a bunch of geese and was all like "hey, y'all, watch this!""

1/16/2009 3:27:41 PM

that still doesn't explain anything..... you're suggesting he actively try to hit a flock of geese? That pretty much just as likely as him actively trying not to hit a flock of geese.
More likely, again, was that he was ascending in his predisposed flight pattern, which was intercepted by a flock of geese. There was nothing done on his part to try to hit or avoid them.

1/16/2009 3:38:35 PM

I blame the Bush tax cuts.

1/16/2009 3:40:35 PM

no dude, you miss the point.

he's one of those ex-USAF fighter jocks. they totally love chasing geese around and doing low altitude buzzes over livestock.

you people need to quit holding these mavericks up as heroes. this kind of hotdoggery must be stopped.

1/16/2009 3:41:53 PM

Quote :

""Nobody panicked. It was women and children first," he said.""

Quote :

"Shit, my life has nothing to do with women and kids that I do not know. Sorry."

Really? Women I can understand, but you would leave a little kid??

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 3:43 PM. Reason : quote]

1/16/2009 3:43:12 PM

Quote :

"hotdoggery"

I need to use this word more often.

I would've tied the children up and made a raft out of them and paddled that bad boy to shore.

1/16/2009 3:49:40 PM

The kid would do the same fucking thing to you if given the chance.

1/16/2009 3:50:01 PM

Why not rape the women, eat the children, and then swim to shore

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM. Reason : .]

1/16/2009 3:57:50 PM

If our plane sat there long enough I would eventually insist on reverting to the Custom of the Sea and murdering and subsequently eating the survivor who drew the shortest straw.

I've actually told passengers that during pre-flight briefing.

1/16/2009 4:00:32 PM

Children first, probably, but women can get in line with everyone else.

1/16/2009 4:03:03 PM

women first, kill the children, and make new ones with the women.

King of the Jungle style bitches.

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 4:05 PM. Reason : -]

1/16/2009 4:04:39 PM

1/16/2009 4:27:26 PM

Quote :

"I don't see how this is possible, landing a plane on the water without losing a wing or anything."

Both engines detached on impact.

1/16/2009 4:45:17 PM

Quote :

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The US Airways pilot who successfully ditched in the Hudson River considered emergency landings at two airports but twice told air controllers he was unable to make them. He told controllers he planned to go into the river, instead. That word comes from a person briefed on pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger's radio communications after his Airbus A320 suffered a double bird strike after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Air traffic controllers first gave Sullenberger directions to return to LaGuardia, but he replied, "unable." Then he saw the Teterboro airstrip in the northern New Jersey suburbs, got clearance to go there, but then again responded, "unable." He then said he was going into the river. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."

According to the NYT:

Quote :

"The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a “double bird strike.” Without power, returning to the airport was out of the question, aviation experts said. He saw a small airport in the distance, apparently at Teterboro, N.J., but decided to head down the Hudson and make a water landing, a rare event that is mentioned in the safety instructions given by flight crews to all passengers on every flight."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/nyregion/16crash.html?pagewanted=2&em

1/16/2009 5:15:59 PM

Quote :

"I wonder if he dropped the landing gear, just out of habit"

eye witnesses in office buildings near the river said no landing gear was down

this is just what i read in an article yesterday

1/16/2009 5:45:08 PM

i dunno much about aircraft, but i imagine he was gripping the fuck out of his steering wheel, or whatever u call it

and his co-pilot was probably sucking his thumb lol

1/16/2009 6:01:33 PM

standard procedure for a landing in the water is to keep the landing gear up, to maintain the airtight seal within the plane and help it float. And in this situation yes he kept it up.

1/16/2009 6:05:54 PM

Archimedes' Principle FTW

1/16/2009 7:00:43 PM

they have a ditching sequence that seals the entire under side of the plane to allow it to float

1/16/2009 7:03:25 PM

yep, they press a button that closes the air vents and all that. keeps it afloat a little longer. once you open the door, all bets are off.

1/16/2009 7:05:54 PM

looks like a real daredevil

1/16/2009 10:36:41 PM

Quote :

"Why the heck did an "experienced" pilot fly his plane into a flock of geese in the first place"

i know you're just trolling, but many times, by the time you see the bird(s), it's too late. Lots of times, it's like "WHOA, did you see that blur just whiz by down the left side?" If you do see them, you're probably going fairly slow, which means that you have a limited ability to maneuver, anyway. I've seen and avoided a bunch of them, hit a couple, and had a bunch of near misses that were simply dumb luck.

I mean, yeah, you keep an eye out for them, and you try your best to avoid them (although I would imagine that it's tougher in an airliner than in anything I have experience in), but bird strikes can just be one of those things. There are computer models to predict the risk (http://www.usahas.com is one), but what are they gonna do? Cancel a commercial flight because of forecasted heavy bird activity?

Quote :

"I wonder if he dropped the landing gear, just out of habit"

nah, even a rookie pilot would have enough sense not to do that. Well, maybe not a rookie private pilot in a Cessna, but definitely anyone flying a jet of any sort.

Quote :

"the sound spooks the stupid birds, and what do they do? Fly straight up into the source of the sound, instead of going the other direction. "

Typically they will fold their wings and dive for the deck. This can be bad if they are slightly above you.

Quote :

"might not have even seen them. Could have come from below or from the side "

The effect of their aspect is fairly minimal. Even if you are flying "slowly" at 150-200 kts, and the bird is coming from the side, it's still only going maybe 20 kts or something. The bigger deal is that you just don't see them lots of times until they are too close to do much of anything (although something the size of a goose is a little easier to pick up).

Quote :

"standard procedure for a landing in the water is to keep the landing gear up, to maintain the airtight seal within the plane and help it float."

the bigger issue is that of controllability once you hit the water. in a small airplane, having the gear down (or having fixed gear) can actually cause the airplane to flip.

1/17/2009 8:20:34 AM

read this shit

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/19/hudson.plane.folo/index.html

Quote :

"Two days before US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River, passengers on the same route and same aircraft say they heard a series of loud bangs and the flight crew told them they could have to make an emergency landing"

1/20/2009 2:45:46 PM

US Air has sent every passenger a $5K check for their luggage, instead of making them go through the usual lost/damaged luggage claim process.

That's a lot more consideration and class than I've come to expect from legacy carriers.

link

[Edited on January 20, 2009 at 2:49 PM. Reason : lkd]

1/20/2009 2:48:43 PM

^^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pucmWr55cgw

1/20/2009 2:55:14 PM

1/27/2009 4:56:49 PM