Miracle on the Hudson
Miracle on the Hudson was when US Airways Flight 1549, captained by Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, made an emergency landing on January 15, 2009 in the Hudson River after suffering a double bird strike over the George Washington Bridge. This was one of a very few safe water landings of an airliner in aviation history.[1] After the plane was hit by a multitude of birds, Sullenberger took over the controls from First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, who had been piloting the plane, and Skiles tried to restart the engines.[2] The pilot wanted at first to return to LaGuardia Airport and began turning left to do so, but then asked about Teterboro Airport which was in a straight line. He was quickly offered a runway there, and also one at Newark Airport. Having no power to make a safe landing at any airport, he made the decision to ditch in the water - about a minute after first contacting air traffic control.
Billionaire Richard Branson said of Sullenberger, "Every single thing he could have done right, he did right — from the second he made that decision not to go to that local airport, to put the plane down in the water, to the way he looked after everybody."[3]
See also
Miracle on the Hudson and KAL 007
References
- ↑ NY Daily News, A very rare happy ending in Hudson River plane crash: Only 1 other safe landing in water, by Dave Goldiner, Updated Friday, January 16th 2009 [1]
- ↑ CNN.com, Flight 1549 crew: Hudson landing still on our minds, 2/10/09 [2]
- ↑ Daily News, Virgin Air puttin’ the moves on Capt. Chesley Sullenberger 3rd., February 1st 2009 [3]