BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:04 pm Post subject: 'MIRACLE ON 48TH. STREET'

I'm putting this piece in 'Over The Road Carriers' because that's exactly what airplanes do - they fly over roads! (and besides, there's no place else to put it!).

Anyway, I just had to comment on the remarkable result of a well orchestrated almost three point crash landing of a U.S. Airways Airbus 320 in New York's Hudson River yesterday.

The expertise of the cockpit crew saved not only the lives of all 155 aboard, but brought the plane down virtually in one piece (an almost unheard of outcome).

The pilot, in this case, cleverly angled the plane in its final descent so as to use both the end of the tail and the undercowls of the engines as pontoons to glide along the water (this is a procedure that airline pilots obviously cannot train for).

This one will go into the text books!

BTW; this guy could drive a bus for me anytime!

Photos courtesy of the New York Times.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

Dieseljim

The way the USAirways captain put the Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after both engines ate some geese was one hell of a masteful piece of flying and an example of the way a ditching should be done. Captain Sully is to be congratulated on such a masteful piece of flying that he got everyone out alive and with a minimal number of injuries. At least one guy knows how a powerless ditching should be done. His having a glider certification sure helped in this situation. It is a good thing that USAirways has pilots of this caliber and with military experience behind them flying for them. Too many airlines have gotten too many of the other kind of caliber of pilot, the one who got his or her training without the benefit of military flying experience. No wonder so many previosu ditchings have ended with heavy loss of life. My Kudos to this USAirways Captain for showing them how it should be done.

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Mr Linsky -

I was perfectly stunned to see how this was done. My Dad was long time aerospace, so I have some familiarity with the issues. The conventional
wisdom being that water ditching of a land aircraft cannot be done without destruction of the air frame. Clearly, the US Air captain chose not to
believe it.

The pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, is quite the remarkable gentleman. We have heard of the prior military training, three decades back. In
addition, reports he holds two Masters degrees, and is a recognized figure in airline safety consulting. Without having met the man, perhaps
something of a contemplative, chess player personality? I suspect he had this "game plan" worked out and wired into his reflex responses a long
while back. I don't believe his response just happenstance!

There is a huge debt of gratitude owed to the many Hudson River vessel operators, instantly responding to the disaster. Those in TV appearances
are so modest about it, and explain it as all in a day's work. Their magnificent support was absolutely vital. In maritime disasters in cold weather,
the passengers and crew who hit the waters can quickly succumb to shock, onset of severe hypothermia, and subsequent demise. The victim count
on this one could have been very large!

We had Angels watching and helping on this one...

.....................Vern...............

shortlineMCI · Age: 54 Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 241

Here here! A Gentleman like that probably wouldn't even want to be called a hero. An incredible manouver (Sp) of what I would consider to be of epic proportions How incredible and masterful. I caught a glimpse of the aircraft floating near the Intrepid air craft carrier as I was on the outbound 495 helix.

Just to think a little more this way and he would have landed into the ship peirs. A little more that way and he would have set down in New Jersey somewhere. This is also the first time in US history that every single man, woman, and child has ever survived an aquatic landing

As his daughter put it...."A pilot's pilot"

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:19 pm Post subject:

Vern,

We're certainly all on the same page here except that I forgot about the General Transportation - All Other Modes forum.

Good work all around!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

Mr. Linsky

Emergency crews work to place the wreckage of the US Airways A320 airplane that crashed in the Hudson River on a barge as it is hoisted out of the river in New York January 17, 2009.

REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine (UNITED STATES)

I never thought they could do this in one piece considering the weight of the water that must have been in the fuselage.

The investigation on this one should be a cake walk for the NTSB (I guess it's all part of the Miracle!).

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Mr Linsky -

Much like anything else, with the TV and press coverage, it is always a challenge, and a bit of a trivia contest. The discriminating listener
or reader gets to do the fact checks!

Concerning the heavy lift moves, the news had the tip: Lift it a small bit, let it drain, repeat until the water has all run off. Another issue
they wanted to address, that of draining the aircraft fuel load, prior the cross harbor movement on barge to NJ side...

Another item, the on air news remarks the loaded aircraft weight of "...one million pounds..." A bit of a fanciful fact! Maybe the speaker
passed along a figure including possible gross water weight, before heavy lift? See the Airbus A320 Specs, in link: http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a320/a320/specifications.html

The new kids have to start someplace? So help me, as New York is very much a center of the world for TV programming, one would like
to think that only the pros get on air. Not so, one of the speakers apparently new in town, much promise, and earlier doing Sports &
Weather in, say, Clovis, NM, or Fort Scott, KS. The speaker kept insisting LaGuardia Airport sited on the Hudson River! Also, a somewhat
charming naivete about the ages old fact the Hudson River has very strong currents!

Finally, the event made the point that Airbus builds a very strong airframe, too! Note, too (and much the same as many Boeings), the
aircraft constructed in China...

.................Vern..............

Dieseljim

Given the condition of the aircraft after it was fished out of the Hudson River, I seriously doubt that it will ever fly again, but be used for parts for the other A320s in the fleet. The damage to the underside of the fuselage and to the tail is so extensive it would almost cost as much to repair this airplane as it would to buy a replacement and write this one off, save for the usable parts that can be salvaged. I hope I am wrong on this score.

Dieseljim · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:56 pm Post subject: Ditching Procedures

During the 1950s, the Air Force used radio controlled B17 drones to work out ditching procedures for their bomber crews to use in event that they had to ditch their aircraft in the drink as Capt. Sullenberger had to do last week. By using unmanned drone aircraft to work out ditching procedures, no lives were risked not until the procedure had to be done for real. Since the best airline pilots all have military aviation backgrounds, they will have some clue on how to perform ditching. Capt. Sullenberger had a further edge in the fact that he is a certified glider pilot on top of his other valuable qualifications. He is prove that it is NOT the peabrained CEOs that make an airline great, but the flight crews and other workers and this hero is proof of it.

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Dieseljim -

The old line aerospace mechanics and engineers do not like any practices involving any reuse of airframe parts that have had a good soaking
in water, particularly salt water exposure. In this instance, we not only have that factor, but many structural parts have been overstressed.
Near everything on this A320 will need to go directly to scrap...

.....................Vern.....................

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:22 pm Post subject:

Vern,

There's also the matter of superstition; just as there are those who will not cross the path of a black cat, there are those who wouldn't fly on a plane knowing that some part of it was involved in a crash!

I know it's stupid, but that's people for you.

Mr. 'L'

Dieseljim · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:50 am Post subject: Carrover from Eastern Flight 411

After that episode involving Eastern Airlines 411, the Lockeed Tristar that went down in the Everglades, parts from that aircraft were used in some sister ships and I believe Eastern came to regret it soon after the ghosts of the deceased crew allegedly began showing up in those Tristars uing parts from the wrecked aircraft. So, I can see where the crews and mechanics are coming from.

ripta42 · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:29 am Post subject:

I've combined all three threads and moved everything into General Transportation - All Other Modes.