US Airways Flight 1549

This title probably doesn’t remember you anything, but for the one hundred and fifty passengers of this Airbus A320, this flight represents their worst fear of their life…

On January 15 of 2009, the pilot in command Chelsey Sullenberger was about to take off the plane from La Guardia Airport with his first officer Jeffrey Skiles having for destination the Seattle Tacoma International Airport.

Ninety eight seconds after the takeoff, a group of geese hit both of the engines of the plane, which turned them off. The first officer was trying to follow the engine’s restart checklist while Sullenberger made a Mayday call to the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, who confirmed him a return to La Guardia. After a few seconds, the pilot informed that he could possibly land at the Tereboro Airport, which was near them. However, Sullenberger took another decision, anticipating a potential crash : he decided to follow the Hudson river, while flying over Manhattan, and try a water landing. His decision has been a success, and all the passengers and members of the crew could avoid death, being rescued by ferries and other boats on the river.

The members of the National Transportation Safety Board could get back the black boxes (or flight recorders), but they put the US Airways company on a trial because it was a case ( a bit in a grey area) with the plane insurance of the company. According to them, they could have not lost an entire plane, but the pilot’s decision caused them a loss. The pilot was subjected to a huge lowering of his pay, and he was prohibited to keep flying.

Despite the heroic act of Sullenberger and the consequences of this “Miracle on the Hudson”, the Federal Aviation Administration cast doubt on his decision during the flight, and announced that he could have enough time to bring the plane to the airport instead of making an emergency landing without following the protocol. Indeed, they and the National Transportation Safety Board demonstrated by a flight simulator (which recreated all the events) a perfect landing at the airport.

However, during all the trial (which last eighteen month), they omitted to mention the number of attempts in those simulators : they didn’t considered the factor of the human reaction time, during the attempts, they reproduced exactly the same actions because they knew what will happen.

The number on those attempts is exactly of seventeen, in which seven failed. Chelsey Sullenberger tried only one time, and he succeed…

Even if this man saved many lives by his fourty years of experience in aviation, he was submitted to pressure by his company and the medias. All the victims and their family recognize him as a hero, in my opinion, everybody should think that.

I am glad to see that there is a beautiful movie titled “Sully” which relates the story of this amazing pilot, highlighting his feelings during all those historical events. I recommend you to go watch it if you are keen on aviation stuffs like me.