Simulation of US Airways plane landing on the Hudson & real time footage
The BBC commissioned a simulation of Captain CB “Sully” Sullenberger’s massively skilful landing of an Airbus 320 on the Hudson last week. The also included a brief clip at the end of just how badly this sort of thing can go wrong (see video further down for the full story).
US Airways Flight 1549 landing on the Hudson
Here’s a short clip from a surveillance camera on a pier on the Hudson showing Flight 1549 skidding past on the river:
And here is some Coast Guard footage of Flight 1549 coming to a halt on the water and the rescue of the passengers starting:
Eithiopia Flight 961 highjacked and crash landing on the sea
Amazingly, there were survivors on that Eithiopian airplane, Flight 961 – see the full story:
“Sully” was trained by the US Air Force – not a surprise
Having seen the incredible feat performed by Captain C B Sullenberger yesterday, its not surprising to see that he was trained by the Air Force. The Smoking Gun has a good profile on him.
Well done Sully and well done the US Air Force for training him.
Airplanes CAN land on water
I always believed that lifejackets were purely a placebo for passengers, but this story has proved that assumption incorrect. (pics courtesy of the TimesOnline).
This is the astonishing story of the US Airways Airbus which hit what was apparently a flock of geese a few minutes after taking off from LaGuardia and had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson river at Pier 83.
The engine blew. There was fire everywhere and it smelled like gas…People were bleeding all over. We hit the water pretty hard. It was scary.
And this is a COLD day:
Survivors and officials said that all 155 people on board left the aircraft through emergency exits, with some standing on the wing before being rescued by a ferry and police launches that sped to the fuselage after the aircraft hit the icy water – The Times
You’d wonder if it would be the same happy result if there hadn’t been river traffic nearby – they seem a little short of liferafts:
At a guess, the reason that they managed the successful water landing is the lack of waves and swell. I suspect that it would be a different story altogether in rough conditions.
Kudos to captain C B Sullenburger for pulling this off.
