This incident with US Airways Flight 1549 has made me realize that we now have two incidences (at the least) on record where a superb landing was made in an emergency situation and was done so during moments that call for graceful aircraft handling. 

I feel certain that this US Airways incident is one.  It does take grace and experience to land an Airbus A320 gently enough in the Hudson River so as to avoid any breakup of the aircraft.  A fully loaded, fully fueled airplane is not easy to handle and keeping it from over-stressing itself and breaking apart is a genuine feat.    The pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, is a certified glider instructor. 

Another incident that many airliner fans certainly know about is the Gimli Glider episode.  An Air Canada Boeing 767 ran out of fuel and was glided to a safe landing at a decommissioned air force base.   A fueling mistake had  been made at its last stop and both pilots found themselves woefully out of fuel in the middle of a transcontinental flight.   The Captain of that flight, Bob Pearson, was also an experienced glider pilot and used some flight techniques from that experience to make a safe landing at Gimli.  You can read all about that incident HERE.  (It’s well worth the time.)

What strikes me about this incident, so far, is that the pilots had very little time to execute a plan and manage their situation when it happened.  The bird strike occured somewhere near or over the Bronx Zoo (based on the observed flight track from Passur.Com).  From that moment, they had just a hair over 3000 feet in altitude, two failing engines and a highly populated area underneath them.  With engines providing some forward thrust, they maintained control of the aircraft, executed a tight turn just north of Manhattan and made contact with air traffic control.

While attempting to manage the aircraft for an emergency landing at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, the pilots had enoug presence of mind to realize, quickly enough, that they had not enough altitude nor forward airspeed to make it there and quickly lined up on the Hudson River instead.  Gently landing an A320 that likely weighed in excess of 150,000 lbs and which had little airspeed to maneuver with  is a nightmare scenario for any pilot.  Captain Sullenberger managed to line the aircraft up with the river, lower it to just above the water’s surface and then stalled the aircraft just right so that it essentially dropped into the water with almost no forward motion.  He did it so good, most passengers have described the impact as no worse than a minor rear end car accident.

A very well done job for all the flight crew and it was a genuine touch of class that Captain Sullenberger was able to walk the aircraft and ensure all his passengers were off and manage to be the “last one off the ship” as well.  For a really bad situation, it was the best of all outcomes.

Filed under: Airline News, Trivia by ajax