[3for3]

Just a kudos to that USAirways crew for landing that plane and saving those 155 lives. That was amazing.

[jdonn]

I am as impressed with the quick thinking as the execution. Going toward the river instead of back to the airport to avoid flying over millions of people was very smart even though it was not necessarily intuitive.

[karlson]

I think the way I heard it explained was that the river was chosen because going back to the airport would have involved a difficult turn, while he was already on almost a straight shot toward the river. I could be wrong.

[jdonn]

karlson, on Jan 16 2009, 01:57 PM, said:

I think the way I heard it explained was that the river was chosen because going back to the airport would have involved a difficult turn, while he was already on almost a straight shot toward the river. I could be wrong.

Who knows. I'm going by what I watched on CNN last night and how they explained it (he had to make a difficult turn anyway). I'm sure there are multiple explanations for everything. Impressive nonetheless.

[karlson]

Quote

Impressive nonetheless

Very

[Rain]

Even though the pilot managed to successfully salvage what would have been a horrible tragedy, who wants to bet that someone will attempt to begin a lawsuit against the airline?

:-s

[shintaro]

just hope he is the pilot next time i fly , either him or someone of equal coolness

[Chas_P]

Pics of the retrieval are here. http://reasonpad.com/?p=1903 Those people also did a great job.

[kenberg]

Every once in a while we see that humans are still really important. Solid judgment and good handling in a tough spot. Applause is definitely in order.

This thread was a fine idea.

[Chas_P]

All airline transport pilots are highly trained. They aren't just "glorified bus drivers" as many proclaim. I once got in a Delta 767 simulator with my best friend who was a Delta captain (now retired). Without warning the sim operator put the aircraft over South America in minimum weather at night and opened a cargo door (loss of pressurization). Without incident my buddy got it down from 35,000 ft and landed Rio. So they train frequently for emergencies of all types.

With that said, I doff my cap to Sullenberger who did what he had been well trained to do with great aplomb. But I gotta say he was also extremely lucky. If that aircraft had taken off from O'Hare, Hartsfield, LAX, etc. instead of fishing live folks off the wings they would've been dragging corpses from the cabin.

[blackshoe]

Hartsfield I don't know, but there's a rather large lake near O'Hare, and a rather large ocean near LAX. Would have given 'em a shot, anyway.