By Len Roberto
An aviation buff comments on the skill and complexity of the pilot who safely crash landed in the Hudson River. Quite simply it was nothing short of a miracle.
You might feel like scoffing at all the praise heaped on Sully-the Captain of the Airbus who landed his stricken airliner in the Hudson River …unless you were piloting the thing.
But think about it this way:
Still in the climb, the part of the flight where you have the fewest options in case of a problem, the pilot loses not 1 but BOTH engines-meaning the plane all the power of a glider.
In a few seconds, the pilot must think about all of this:
Decide where to go- can I make nearby Teterboro Airport?
Declare an emergency. Inform the crew and passengers, while he is flying a real heavy GLIDER now, yet he does all this as cool as the other side of the pillow.
He quickly realizes and understands his only choice besides 5th Avenue & 42nd St is a water landing in the Hudson. If he fails, he knows the frigid waters are likely going to kill people within three minutes so he needs to land near help (ferries) and he needs to set the thing down as softly as possible to allow max float from wings…if it broke up-trouble. So he did all this in seconds and greased a landing that saved them all…
There's an old pilot saying: Any landing you walk away from was a good one. Sierra Hotel Sully!
Len Roberto is a recreation pilot and aviation enthusiast living in Connecticut. This is his first piece for the Daily Del Franco
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