US Airways flight 1549 goes down in Hudson Rive

[dagger]

Go to CNN

Looks like plane is afloat and intact. An A320 that took off from LGA for CLT, about 100 people on board. Suspicion is sudden engine trouble, possibly a bird strike. Pilot did a fantastic job of making a very soft landing in the water. Board surrounded now by rescue craft and ferries

[Mitch Cronin]

Good grief! They're gonna push the damned thing under with their boats!

[chockalicious]

The plane is a US Airways flight 1549 from LaGuardia to Charlotte. There were 146 passengers on board the flight, along with 5 crew members. There is no report on their conditions.

[dagger]

Looks like everyone got out alive, praise be.

[chockalicious]

[CanadaEH]

God listening to these f$*&in tools speculate, insinuate, and discuss the incident is ridiculous!!!

[dozerboy]

Don't talk about Dagger that way

[better4me]

God listening to these f$*&in tools speculate, insinuate, and discuss the incident is ridiculous!!!

What I can say about this incident is:

1. Never thought I would see a survivable water landing. Maybe next time I will listen to the lifejacket section of the safety video. Until know I always thought a water landing would shred the plane and what was left would rapidly sink.

2. I didn't think the fifi could float as well as she did, especially with the doors open.

[Gumbi]

CanadaEh & better4me:

with those avs, it's very hard to concentrate on reading your posts...

Kudos to those pilots!

[chockalicious]

Captain of this flight.

Captain for major U. S. passenger airline, serving North America, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean and Hawaii with large jet equipment. Responsible for all aspects of safety and security pertaining to flight, including planning, preparation and aircraft servicing. Leader of crew and responsible for passengers and aircraft. Involved in development and implementation of the first Crew Resource Management (CRM) training course used at the airline. As a Check Airman, was responsible for the training and supervision of other airline pilots transitioning to another aircraft type or upgrading to Captain. Served as an Air Line Pilots Association Local Air Safety Chairman and Accident Investigator and national technical committee member.

[Kip Powick]

Captain of this flight.

Captain for major U. S. passenger airline, serving North America, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean and Hawaii with large jet equipment. Responsible for all aspects of safety and security pertaining to flight, including planning, preparation and aircraft servicing. Leader of crew and responsible for passengers and aircraft. Involved in development and implementation of the first Crew Resource Management (CRM) training course used at the airline. As a Check Airman, was responsible for the training and supervision of other airline pilots transitioning to another aircraft type or upgrading to Captain. Served as an Air Line Pilots Association Local Air Safety Chairman and Accident Investigator and national technical committee member.

Chocky...what's your point??? please

[Maverick]

2. I didn't think the fifi could float as well as she did, especially with the doors open.

It's plastic, what did you expect?

If that was a Boeing they'd just drop the gear, drive it out the boat launch and be back in service tomorrow!

Seriously though after this and Air France in YYZ I'm beginning to think differently of Airbus.

Fantastic job by the crew! They should be given the rest of the pairing off with pay.

[chockalicious]

Chocky...what's your point??? please

My point, Kiparoni, is that I thought people on here might be interested on who the captain of this flight was and that he had some pretty cool experience.

[Super 80]

word around here is multiple bird strikes to both engines, apprently it ingested an entire flock of canada geese.

[Kip Powick]

My point, Kiparoni, is that I thought people on here might be interested on who the captain of this flight was and that he had some pretty cool experience.

OK...not a problem, just have never seen anyone puting up the Capatains resume that soon after an accident.

That he and his FO did a great job is a given, seeing they probably had less than 2-4 seconds to ride it down.

Personally, I think most airbus drivers probably would have done the exact same thing as they would probably have no other option...given when the power loss happened.

[Brad MacKay]

probably had less than 2-4 seconds to ride it down.

I don't think the wings fell off Kip.

[chockalicious]

OK...not a problem, just have never seen anyone puting up the Capatains resume that soon after an accident.

Damn internet makes things far too easy!

Apparently some airline officials referred to it as an "emergency landing" rather than a crash.

Sorry no link.

[Kip Powick]

I don't think the wings fell off Kip.

Yeh....blame the media...one report had the bird fall down right after T/O. Another said 2 minutes and the latest I heard was that the pilot reported a double bird strike, wanted to go back to LGA, was told to go to New Jersey, at which point the aircraft started to falter as the pilot started to go back to LGA.

The last report said it happened 5 minutes after T/O and he "fell into the Hudson" when attempting to return to LGA.....

Sheesh

I think I shuda waited to hear from the NTSB prelim....

[Kip Powick]

Damn internet makes things far too easy!

Apparently some airline officials referred to it as an "emergency landing" rather than a crash.

Sorry no link.

Chocky...here you go............. Emergency Water Landing.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013725214

I can't remember for sure, but was that(Emergency Water Landing) not the title in the QRH on numerous aircraft checklists

[Guest woxof]

What I can say about this incident is:

1. Never thought I would see a survivable water landing. Maybe next time I will listen to the lifejacket section of the safety video. Until know I always thought a water landing would shred the plane and what was left would rapidly sink.

There is a good chance of surviving a ditching

The USAirways flight is being tentatively regarded as the first 100% successful ditching of an underwing-engined passenger jet.

On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153 (an ATR 72) ditched off the Sicilian coast after running out of fuel. Of 39 aboard, 20 survived with injuries including serious burns. The plane's wreck was found in three pieces.

On 4 December 2004, a Miami Air Lease Convair CV-340 ditched into Mall Lake, Florida. Both occupants survived.

On 16 January 2002, Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 (a Boeing 737) successfully ditched into the Bengawan Solo River near Yogyakarta, Java Island after experiencing a twin engine flameout during heavy precipitation and hail. The pilots tried to restart the engines several times before taking the decision to ditch the aircraft. Of the 60 occupants, one, a flight attendant, was killed. Photographs taken shortly after evacuation show that the plane came to rest in knee-deep water.

On 23 November 1996, Ethiopian 961 (a Boeing 767-200ER) ditched in shallow water 500 meters from land after being hijacked and running out of fuel. Unable to operate flaps, it impacted at high speed, dragging its left wingtip before tumbling and breaking into three pieces. The panicking hijackers were fighting the pilots for the control of the plane at the time of the impact, which caused the plane to roll just before hitting the water, and the subsequent wingtip hitting the water and breakup are a result of this struggle in the cockpit. Of 175 on board, 52 survived. Some passengers were killed on impact or trapped in the cabin when they inflated their life vests before exiting. Most of the survivors were found hanging onto a section of the fuselage that remained floating.

On 2 May 1970, ALM Flight 980 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33CF), ditched in mile-deep water after running out of fuel during multiple attempts to land at Princess Juliana International Airport on the island of Saint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles under low-visibility weather. Of 63 occupants, 40 survivors were recovered by U.S. military helicopters.

On 21 August 1963, an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-124 ditched into the Neva River after running out of fuel. The aircraft floated and was towed to shore by a tugboat which it had nearly hit as it came down on the water. The tug rushed to the floating aircraft and pulled it with its passengers near to the shore where the passengers disembarked onto the tug; all 52 on board escaped without injuries

In October 1956, Pan Am Flight 943 (a Boeing 377) ditched northeast of Hawaii, after losing two of its four engines. The aircraft was able to circle around USCGC Pontchartrain until daybreak, when it ditched; all 31 on board survived

In April 1956, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (also a Boeing 377) ditched into Puget Sound after the flight engineer forgot to close the cowl gills on the plane's engines. All aboard escaped the aircraft after a textbook landing, but four passengers and one flight attendant succumbed either to drowning or to hypothermia before being rescued.

On 19 June 1954, a Swissair Convair CV-240 ditched into the English Channel. All three crew and three of the five passengers survived.

On May 27, 1968, a Japan Air Lines DC-8-62 landed short of the runway in San Francisco Bay on approach to San Francisco International Airport. There were no fatalities, and the aircraft itself was in good enough condition to be removed from the water, rebuilt, and flown again.

National Airlines Flight 193, registration N4744, Donna, was a Boeing 727-235 en route from Miami, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on May 8, 1978. It was scheduled with stops at Melbourne, Tampa, Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama. The accident occurred at night in low visibility from fog. During the descent into Pensacola Regional Airport it impacted Escambia Bay, sinking in 12 feet of water. The aircraft was intact after the accident but written off due to extensive sea water corrosion.

Plus this 707 in Lake Victoria in Africa...

http://www.avweb.com/news/news/182363-1.html

[Guest woxof]

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-articles/read.main?id=1

The DC-8 that was too young to die!

By Richard Silagi

March 9, 2001

Not too many airliners have survived crash landings at off airport locations and have lived to fly again. This is the story of one such crash survivor.

On November 22nd 1968, Japan Air flight #2 was nearing the end of a routine flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. Captain Kohhei Asoh, a 15 year JAL veteran, was in command of the flight which was being operated with a new DC-8-62. JA8032 (msn # 45954) had rolled off the Douglas assembly line in April of 1968 and had been in service with JAL for only four months.

As Captain Asoh was approaching SFO at approximately 9:30 am, the weather at SFO was reported to be "ceiling indefinite, 300 ft (90 m) overcast, sky partially obscured, 3/4 mile (1.2 km) visibility with fog". The airport's minimums at the time were, 200 ft (60 m) ceiling and 1/2 mile (0.8 km) visibility. Other aircraft had been landing ahead of JAL #2 without incident at the rate of about 8 to 10 an hour.

According to the NTSB, Capt. Asoh said that he was making a coupled approach, but because of problems with his pressure altimeter, he was relying on the more accurate radio altimeter for verification of altitude. Capt. Asoh set the radio altimeter to give a light at a decision height of 211 ft (63.3 m). When the light blinked on, Capt. Asoh looked up expecting to be at about 200 ft (60 m) and heading for 28L.

Instead, he was nearly in the waters of San Francisco Bay. He applied power, which raised the nose somewhat, and then the right main landing gear hit the water, followed by the left, and then the aircraft slewed to the left. Capt. Asoh cut power the aircraft settled into the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay.

The aircraft hit the water slightly nose-up, about 500 yards (450 m) from the Coyote Point Yacht Harbor and a couple miles short of the runway, in about 9 ft (3 m) of water. Once the plane came to a stop, it started to sink. The plane finally came to a stop when the landing gear settled into the mud at the bottom of the bay, and the rising water stopped just short of the bottom sills of the cabin doors. Luckily all of the passengers and crew members escaped the incident without injury. According local newspaper reports of the incident, most passengers did not even get their feet wet!

One interesting factor which may not have caused the crash, but did not help prevent it, was that the FAA had just recently decommissioned and removed the Precision Approach Radar (PAR) system at SFO. Had that equipment still been operational, the controllers in the tower could have alerted the crew to their low approach. Apparently the FAA had decided to remove the outdated system since very few airlines were still using it.

Two days after the crash, crews from Bigge Drayage Co. and Air International Recovery hoisted the plane out of the water with large floating cranes and placed the plane on a large barge. As soon as the plane was out of the salt water of San Francisco Bay, crews started washing down the plane with fresh water to help prevent corrosion. The plane was then taken by barge to United Airline's maintenance base at SFO.

When the plane arrived at UAL's overhaul dock, the cabin interior and lower fuselage compartments were stripped and flushed with additional gallons of fresh water and the aircraft was treated with chemicals and oils in an effort to prevent corrosion.

Once the anti-corrosions measures were completed, crews started to analyze the damage the aircraft. Maintenance crews discovered that the aircraft had surprisingly suffered little structural damage. Since the aircraft was new and had accumulated only 1,700 flight hours prior to the crash, airline officials determined that it would be cost effective to repair the aircraft instead of scrapping it.

United Airlines maintenance crews then spent the next four months repairing the aircraft. First, all 36 miles (57.6 km) of wiring was replaced at a cost of about $220,000. All of the flight and engine control cables were also replaced. Other major repair items to the aircraft included:

Replacement of two engine pylons at a cost of $125,000 each, plus repairs to a third.

Removal, reworking, and corrosion treatment of control surfaces. The left outboard flap was replaced at a cost of $52,500, as well as both inboard flaps, for $21,400.

Replacement of left landing gear cylinder and bogie for $53,000.

Replacement of aft galley units at a cost of $100,000.

In addition, all hydraulic units, as well as 90% of the pneumatic and air conditioning systems, were removed and repaired or replaced. All instrument panels were removed and instruments tested. Fuel valves and pumps were removed, fuel tanks were flushed and samples taken to make sure no salt was present.

Four months later, after 52,000 man hours, and a $4-million repair bill, JA8032 completed a 10 minute test flight on March 26th, 1969. On March 31st 1969, the plane was returned to JAL.

The plane continued to fly for Japan Airlines for 14 more years until it was sold in March 1983 to Air ABC and reregistered as TF-BBF. In May of 1983 the plane was leased to Hamzair until December 1983 when it was returned to Air ABC. In July of 1984 it was sold to Okada Air of Nigeria and reregistered as 5N-AON. A few years later, in April of 1987 the plane was purchased by Airbone Express and reregistered as N808AX. Currently this plane is still a member of the Airborne Express fleet, and is still flying 32 years after the crash!

[handyman]

From one expert...

Another step is to hit the “ditching button,” which seals the openings in the plane.

Huh! Something special from Airbus?

[Fido]

..... apprently it ingested an entire flock of Air canada geese.

Air Canada gets blamed again

[dagger]

It's worth giving the pilot his due. What a pro to have at the controls of a routine flight like this!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...6/BNStory/Front

[conehead]

Two things I was wondering;

1. Did they close the outflow valve? (or hit the "ditching" switch, if so equipped? I seem to remember that only later 319's had this... not sure.)

2. What is Homeland Security doing about apprehending these murderous Canadian geese who are blatantly attacking American citizens in there own country???