Plane crash in the Hudson

[DiscoTDI]

An amazing job on behalf of the pilot, so far everyone has survived


http://media.nbc13.com/wvtm/img-story/images/uploads/usairways.JPG

plane crash in hudson - Google News (http://news.google.com.au/news?gbv=2&hl=en&q=plane+crash+in+hudson&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=news_group&resnum=1&ct=title)

[JDNSW]

It is suggested that this is the first ever successful ditching of a commercial jet airliner. The aircraft is apparently largely undamaged, and remains afloat. There were no significant injuries or loss of life. The ditching, a few minutes after takeoff is reported to have been due to the ingestion of a flock of birds causing the failure of two engines.

The captain, a very experienced ex-military pilot, seems to have done a very good job, perhaps helped by the fact that this is one of the newest basic designs flying.

John

[mcrover]

Pretty amazing, he should now be sent out to teach all the other pilots in the world how to do it.:D

We have a massive problem with birds on our course and ive thought about it a few times how they deal with the birds on Capital GC which is at the end of the main runway at Moorabbin airport .

We use a gas gun and do the odd cull (Corellas only due to permit constraints) but the wide areas and permanent water attracts thousands of gulls, Corellas and ducks to our course and I would expect the same at Capital.

They must have thousands of bird strikes a year but I think most of their traffic is prop aircraft.

Tulla has a golf course nearby but they never have water but I dont know how their bird situation is either.

[350RRC]

Tulla has a golf course nearby but they never have water but I dont know how their bird situation is either.

Remember a few years when a fox got sucked into the engine of a plane taking off at Tulla? Virgin plane? Trashed one of the engines.

cheers, DL

[Distortion]

I don't know about it being the first

theres this one English Russia St. Petersburg Water Landing (http://englishrussia.com/?p=2201) but still very impressive to get everyone off without serious injury

[JDNSW]

I don't know about it being the first

theres this one English Russia St. Petersburg Water Landing (http://englishrussia.com/?p=2201) but still very impressive to get everyone off without serious injury

Probably not in many databases - as the article says, it was kept secret to avoid affecting sales of aircraft!

There are probably other examples as well, just not in the ICAO database for various reasons.

John

[LandyAndy]

Well done to the pilot,textbook water landing.
Would more likeley to be **** than class thou.
Low altitude,low speed gentle landing,like skiping a stone on a pond.
Coming fom much higher at much greater speed would have been catastrophic.Great to see no deaths involved.
Andrew

[Bushie]

Coming fom much higher at much greater speed would have been catastrophic.
Andrew


That's usually fairly catastrophic on a runway as well. ;);)


Martyn

[JDNSW]

Given proper piloting skills, touchdown speed is not dependent on the height you are descending from. In this case he was lucky it was dead flat water, and probably had the skill to touch down at the minimum possible speed, and with almost no vertical speed, estimating the target speed such that lifting the nose to check descent stalled the aircraft as it touched the surface with the rear fuselage. This would give the minimum possible forward speed, and ensure that it did not become airborne again as the nose came down and the wings unstalled, as it was now below stalling speed. The major impacts would have been when the engines entered the water and acted as brakes - it was obviously critical to ensure that these entered the water simultaneously to avoid their slewing the plane sideways, which would almost certainly have caused a wing to dig in with disastrous results.

John

[Disco_owner]

Full Credit to the Pilot , apparently he had stayed back until all passenger and crew had left the plane and he personally walked up and down the fuse-lodge to make sure no passengers been left behind and then finally left the plane.:cool:

hope I have not make any spelling and gramatical errors :p as English is my 2nd language.

[aew849]

I recall a pommie BAe Nimrod ditched off east coast of Scotland in the late 90's following a maintenance flight. It suffered an engine fire that would not extinguish.....aircraft captain had no choice but to ditch as the engines are located right at the root of the aircraft wing, and a main spar failure would have really ruined the day..

The Nimrod is a military version of the DH Comet, and ditching instructions would be right at the back of the manual, in the dusty, never happened before section.

First class result as the crew survived.:BigThumb:

It's not the first time that geese have gotten one back. Four engine transports have suffered the same result as well.:eek:

aew849
04 130 HCPU

[antichrist]

It was interesting to hear an interview with one of the passengers last night. He and some others were in a raft and were in fear of being pulled under if the plane sank. The raft was tethered to the plane and they had no way to cut the rope. Finally someone from a ferry (which was giving priority to getting folks off the wing) tossed them a knife.
It would have been a sad irony.

[StephenF10]

In 1956 a PanAm Boeing 337 Stratocruiser (the last of the Boeing piston-engined airliners) ditched successfully without loss of life in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and San Francisco.

Pan Am Flight 943 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_943)

The amazing thing about the Hudson crash is the fact that a successful ditching (the first ever??) was carried out by an aircraft with underslung engines. A similar case a few years ago was the hijacked B767 that ran out of fuel and ditched in the Indian Ocean, but it went in left wing low and the force of the left engine hitting the water first broke the aircraft apart.

Stephen.

[Disco_owner]

In 1956 a PanAm Boeing 337 Stratocruiser (the last of the Boeing piston-engined airliners) ditched successfully without loss of life in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and San Francisco.

Pan Am Flight 943 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_943)

The amazing thing about the Hudson crash is the fact that a successful ditching (the first ever??) was carried out by an aircraft with underslung engines. A similar case a few years ago was the hijacked B767 that ran out of fuel and ditched in the Indian Ocean, but it went in left wing low and the force of the left engine hitting the water first broke the aircraft apart.

Stephen.
:eek: Farout , the thought of being on that plane makes hair on back of my neck stand up. that would have been terifying for the passengers before the crash.

[Quiggers]

...following takeoff, passengers aboard the US Airways Airbus were being treated to fresh goose liver pate.....:p

[Rangier Rover]

These two birds were sighted just before the plane fell out of the sky:twisted:


http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13005&stc=1&d=1232683128

[BMKal]

These two birds were sighted just before the plane fell out of the sky:twisted:

:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling:

And George Dubyah is reported to be considering retaliatory strikes against any country named after a bird.

Citizens of Turkey are reported to be taking shelter. :lol2:

[rmp]

Given proper piloting skills, touchdown speed is not dependent on the height you are descending from. In this case he was lucky it was dead flat water, and probably had the skill to touch down at the minimum possible speed, and with almost no vertical speed, estimating the target speed such that lifting the nose to check descent stalled the aircraft as it touched the surface with the rear fuselage. This would give the minimum possible forward speed, and ensure that it did not become airborne again as the nose came down and the wings unstalled, as it was now below stalling speed. The major impacts would have been when the engines entered the water and acted as brakes - it was obviously critical to ensure that these entered the water simultaneously to avoid their slewing the plane sideways, which would almost certainly have caused a wing to dig in with disastrous results.

John

I doubt he'd have tried to stall it in that manner. Once a wing stalls there is a dramatic loss of lift and increase in drag, which would drop the aircraft in. It would be better to keep it above stalling speed and gently lower it down, albeit at a slightly higher speed than a stall'n'drop. Also, I suspect modern airliners can't be stalled as there would be anti-stall mechanisms.

As the rear of the aircraft touched the water the nose would have dropped, which would reduce the angle of attack; but think also about the immediate speed reduction, and the fact the wings would drop. There would be no chance of it taking off again if it was done at all gently.

Agree with the point re engines though, most important.

[JDNSW]

................ Also, I suspect modern airliners can't be stalled as there would be anti-stall mechanisms.

.......

Actually you are almost certainly right in this case. The A320 is fly by wire, and Airbus design philosophy is that the computer knows better than the pilot - to touch down just above stall probably is a lot easier than to actually stall it in - just hold off and allow speed to bleed off, and it will gradually lower the nose to avoid a stall.

But there are suggestions that the ANZ crash in France was the result of a software problem - it seems to have actually stalled and entered an incipient spin at low level, just after takeoff.

John

[Bigbjorn]

As you once wrote, JD, a good landing, but not a superb landing.

[Bushie]

Whats the saying ?

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing" a superb landing is one where you can use the plane again. :D:D


Martyn

[rmp]

Whats the saying ?

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing" a superb landing is one where you can use the plane again. :D:D


Martyn

exactly!

I should also add that as JD pointed out, having the engines enter the water at the same time to avoid asymmetric drag is critical. For that reason the pilot would want to retain good roll control which requires the wings not be stalled.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

all in a days work,,
for the excellent glider pilot that he was--



time to hit the boss up for a pay rise??:D

[DiscoTDI]

all in a days work,,
for the excellent glider pilot that he was--



time to hit the boss up for a pay rise??:D

Maybe buy a lotto ticket as well