A Million to One Shot

I'm still marveling at the water landing made by the U.S. Air pilot in New York yesterday. An amazing number of things had to go right for that to work without serious injuries or fatalities, and they all did. The captain is getting a lot of well-earned praise:

The pilots of US Airways Flight 1549 achieved one of the rarest and most technically challenging feats in commercial aviation: landing on water without fatalities.

Although commercial jetliners are equipped with life vests and inflatable slides, there have been few successful attempts at water landings during the jet age. Indeed, even though pilots go through the motions of learning to ditch a plane in water, the generally held belief is that such landings would almost certainly result in fatalities.

Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, a veteran US Airways pilot, pulled it off while simultaneously coping with numerous other challenges.

In the minutes after takeoff, the pilot managed to maneuver past the skyscrapers of Manhattan and into the crowded Hudson River, even though the engines were disabled after apparently hitting a flock of geese.

Passengers said the plane was vibrating violently and the cabin began to fill with smoke. To reach its splashdown spot, witnesses said the jet glided over the George Washington Bridge before plopping into the water.

"The fact that passengers were able to walk off that airplane and wait on the wing for rescuers to arrive is remarkable. It's amazing," said aviation consultant Tommy McFall, a former airline pilot and retired accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Why Birds Are Such a Danger to PlanesPaterson: 'A Miracle on the Hudson'The Rarest of the Rare: A Safe Water LandingRick Kurner, another US Airways pilot, says he has flown with Capt. Sullenberger for 23 years. "He's always been an unbelievable professional," says Mr. Kurner, a first officer.

Mr. Kurner says when he heard it was Capt. Sullenberger who was flying the plane that landed safely in the Hudson, he wasn't at all surprised. "He held his cool. 'Where am I going to go? City? City? River.'"

Many moons ago when I was getting my pilot's license part of the training was in power off landings. You'd be putting along minding your own business when suddenly it would get pretty quiet and you realized the instructor had just closed the throttle, making the big fan in front more of a drag than a help. He would then looking into your shocked face and say "where are you going to land"?

Even though the aircraft was much lighter and slower than an A320, you still had a surprisingly short amount of time to make some important decisions. You had to trim the airplane up to the best glide speed while at the same time looking for a suitable landing site. You had to be careful not to get too slow or you'd stall, but you wanted to be as slow as possible for the landing, especially if it was going to be off the airport where the possibility of hitting hard things was a lot greater.

We never actually landed off the airport since that might involve a damaged airplane, damaged bodies and a lot of paperwork, but we got surprisingly close to the ground in a remote area above Laguna Beach. It would get your blood pressure up pretty quick, and was a good reminder that when you only have one engine you have only one option if it quits - you're gonna land somewhere and you better make some good choices.

Captain Sullenberger did everything right. He realized the aircraft did not have enough energy to make it to an airport, there weren't good off airport choices on land, so the next best thing was to put the plane in the water. The Hudson in that area is pretty straight, long and wide, and there are lots of boats available for a quick rescue. Landing a jet with two large engines under the wings in water is a very risky operation. Hit it just a little bit off and the jet cartwheels or spins around violently and breaks up. Somehow the Captain hit it perfectly, and even in 36 degree water with 20 degree air temperatures, everybody got off safely. I'm still amazed. He was truly the master of his aircraft.

His situation will undoubtedly become part of the simulator training for all US Air pilots (and probably other airlines as well) and I wonder how many of them will successfully complete that landing?