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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
pitch above you
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 15, 2009 - 08:20pm PT
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After seeing the plane float by my office in the freezing water of the Hudson, I gotta give that guy props for ditching so well that few folks even got wet past their knees. People wouldn't have lasted long if they were on their own in that water, air temps were around 15 and water was probably high 30s. Hat's off to an amazing save.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:27pm PT
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Absolutely! Great guy!
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Chris2
Trad climber
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:29pm PT
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Not so sure he is a great guy...but a nice ditch of his aircraft.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:31pm PT
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Okay... Great guy for not only putting the plane down so well, but also for walking the plane twice after everyone evacuated to ensure no one was left behind before leaving the sinking plane him self. I'm going with great on that.
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Double D
climber
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:32pm PT
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Unreal...everyone survived? Mid-January in the Hudson?
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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
pitch above you
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 15, 2009 - 08:36pm PT
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Yep, Double D... looks like everyone got off. People were standing around on the wings waiting for the rescue boats like they were waiting on the curb for a bus. What a trip.
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Manny
Social climber
tempe
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:37pm PT
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Gotta agree, he or she is a great pilot and I want to fly on their plane! Shazzam! Had to be happening so quick, I am glad we have good news today.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Jan 15, 2009 - 08:39pm PT
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Nice photo on CNN.com cover page - shows the plane with some people on the wing before it sank as well as an inset of the pilot.
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Chris2
Trad climber
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:07pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:15pm PT
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He certainly did his job but it really wasn't all that big especially with nice flat water and nothing to hit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking him but just pointing out that the plane flies just the same without power as with. It just won't go upwards. They even build in an emergency generator to power the hydraulics for just this scenario.
With no ill intent meant for our fine listeners north of the border I will relate a little known tale. Back around '82, Anders can correct me, Air Canada Flight ___ left Vancouver bound for Toronto. That day was the day Canada went metric with a vengeance. The ground crew must have celebrated in advance because, despite all the planning, they somehow managed to load 20,000 pounds of fuel instead of the requested 20,000 kilos (av fuel goes by weight not volume). OOoops!
Somewhere over Saskatchewan it got really quiet at 35,000'. Not to worry! Well, maybe worry a little, like where's the nearest suitable airport? Uhh, there's an abandoned RCAF base over 100 miles (nautical mind you) away. Not to worry, the B757 is a splendid glider, as all airliners are. It is so splendid the pilot arrived on short final with too much altitude to dissipate via dropping the gear and flaps. Since it was not enough to perform a 'go-around' he did what all glider pilots do all the time (he was, in fact, an active glider pilot) and that is cross the controls for added drag and push the nose over as steeply as possible. Apparently this provoked no little concern in the cabin. It also caused the co-pilot to have to take his uniform to the dry cleaners' sooner than he had planned as he wasn't a glider pilot and wasn't prepared for this radical a maneuver only 1000' above the ground. "STFU sonny and tell the cabine (Canadian for cabin) to prepare for landing" "Aye, aye, Captain!" A perfect landing ensued, of course, and everybody got a fun slide down the chutes. One nice lady did sprain an ankle though.
Reilly aka 'Cap'n Piss-Gums'
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mastadon
Trad climber
quaking has-been
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:24pm PT
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Capitan Piss Gums-
You've been reading too many Zap comics....
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:26pm PT
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You have to hand it to this captain - didn't freak out, didn't kill the bus load, and best of all...
TOTALLY OVERSHADOWED BUSH!!!!!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:28pm PT
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Watch it you extinct animal, I represent that! Did you see they found some of your relatives out on the Channel Islands recently? They said they swam out there! Yeah right, ocean-going mastodons!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jan 15, 2009 - 09:31pm PT
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That dude is a true Badass!!!!!
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Jan 15, 2009 - 10:02pm PT
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Wow.
That everything seems to have pulled off so smoothly - people in the friggin river on the coldest(I think) day so far of the winter - just amazing that this was not a tragedy. It so easily could have been.
I have to wonder if the pilot's long time experience didn't help him handle the scenario instinctively. My brother-in-law is a pilot and he talked about simulations and stuff. But this sort of stuff just does not get practiced in the field! It CAN'T be the same,a real life crisis, as in a flight simulator.
RE: "AND HE OVERSHADOWED BUSH!!!!" That is funny.
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shutupandclimb
climber
So. Cal..............d00d
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Jan 15, 2009 - 10:22pm PT
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Sully Rocks!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jan 15, 2009 - 10:43pm PT
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That's what Air Force training and experience gets ya, a damn fine pilot from another day. I just hope our future pilots are just as good.
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Jan 15, 2009 - 10:58pm PT
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He probably had the flaps out and the gear up, which is good.
Takeoff is hardest on the hardware, landing is hardest on the pilot.
They have to certify the aircraft for a water landing if it is to carry people across the ocean on two kerosene heaters.
The APU aux power unit, a small generator/turbine in the tail was probably still on, or at least warmed up, a lot of lucky things, the river, the ferry boats, daylight, experienced pilot from Danville CA full props to the east bay.
It is a pretty easy job for those guys, they train to flop it in the water, but nothing like the real thing.
Also, as told from a pilot friend, he is trying to save his own bacon, he could give a rats ass about the passengers, not to sound cold or anything, that's the K2 way of thinking in that situation.
I wonder if he checked the John?
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