Losing one engine on takeoff is hairy enough-I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose both at the same time. These guys know though:
NEW YORK (AP) – A cool-headed pilot maneuvered his crippled jetliner over New York City and ditched it in the frigid Hudson River on Thursday, and all 155 on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank. It was, the governor said, “a miracle on the Hudson.” One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries.
The US Airways Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds just after takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia Airport, apparently disabling the engines.
The pilot, identified as Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III of Danville, Calif., “was phenomenal,” passenger Joe Hart said. “He landed it – I tell you what – the impact wasn’t a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you.
“Both engines cut out and he actually floated it into the river,” he added.
One of the side benefits of maintaining a large military aviation establishment is that it contributes to society in a lot of other ways. Commercial Aviation is one of them. For a long time, the standards of military aviation carried over into the airlines-because most of the pilots came with military experience.
We Americans tend to forget that aviation requires a certain level of professional. Because unlike driving a truck:
Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.
— Captain A. G. Lamplugh, British Aviation Insurance Group, London. Circa early 1930’s.
We passengers never think about the training cost that is necessary to build a sound safety record. And I worry that all the emphasis on cost cutting will lead to cutting corners on some really important things. Safety has to be job one for everyone on an airline.
I think we sometimes forget that-when we complain about the airlines. Certainly these passengers won’t. Training and experience paid off.