Inside Flight 1549...An Aviator's Perspective

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

Some Interesting Numbers for Jim Rice

Congrats to Jim Rice who finally made the Hall of Fame on his last year of eligibility. Someone got something right. If you look at Rice's career numbers, there's no question: He is a Hall of Famer.

Besides the 382 homers and all those RBIs (1451), Rice was a career .298 hitter.

Jim Rice was one of the best hitters of the 1970s and the early part of the 1980 decade. His stats also match up favorably with Orlando Cepeda who made the Hall of Fame. Cepeda finished his career with a .297 career average, 379 home runs and 1365 RBIs. Accordingly, Cepeda finished with a lower batting average, fewer total home runs, and fewer RBIs than Jim Rice had during his career. In addition, Jim Rice played one less year than Cepeda did, meaning his individual yearly averages were higher than Cepeda's.

Jim Rice's statistics also compare favorably to Duke Snider who is also in the Hall of Fame. Snider had a career .295 average, 407 home runs, and 1333 RBIs. Billy Williams also made the Hall of Fame with totals of a .290 batting average, 426 home runs, and 1475 RBIs.

The next name on the list of players comparable to Rice is believe it or not, Ellis Burks. Maybe it's because I remember Burks coming up as a skinny outfielder in Boston but I would never compare him to Rice. But look it up:

Burks hit .291, 352 homers, and had 1206 RBI. Just judging on numbers alone, Burks warrants consideration, right? Wrong. And that's where baseball, which relies on its statistics as a measurement tool more than any other sport, got it wrong. How can you judge players in the steroid era against their predecessors? At least the voters continue to punish McGwire: He got about 20% of the necessary 75% to get in.

Here's a few other Rice numbers to consider:

--Rice never drew more than 63 walks in a season
--During his 1978 MVP year Rice whiffed 126 times and still hit .315
--That same year, Rice hit 15 triples although Red Sox fans of the early-to-mid 1980s might recall Rice as Mr. 6-4-3 as the slugger routinely grounded into 30-plus double plays a year.

Just writing about baseball adds another 15 degrees outside. Pitchers and catchers report in 35 days.

We Talking About Practice...

Just Because. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYjD7A75HQ

And that's why they play the games...

Nothing pleased me more than watching the Plax-less Giants go down in a home playoff game to the Eagles. It reminded me a lot of last year's Giant/Dallas game. Third game of the season between NFC East rivals with the road team beating a 13-win team. Wasn't everybody rubber-stamping the Giants into the SuperBowl? One know-it-all radio host said as much during his Sunday morning chat with Phil Simms. "The Titans, Phil, presented the most difficult matchup for the Giants," said Francesa in one of those I know the answer before I ask the question. It wasn't only Francesa. Others did the same thing. And John Carney picked a bad game to be bad.

I had an enjoyable listen on Westwood One with Ian Eagle/Dennis Green doing Pittsburgh/San Diego. Who'd have thought former coach Dennis Green ("The Bears were who we thought they were.")would have been so informative, concise, and entertaining. This guy should be doing more color. Very refreshing. When a third quarter punt glanced off a San Diego player and picked up by Pittsburgh, Ian Eagle went into full celebratory mode with an emphatic Touchdown Pittsburgh! Coach Green though, knew better. He calmly told the audience that the ball, in that scenario, could not be advanced. No Steeler touchdown but Pittsburgh would take possession at the spot of the foul. Correct call, Coach Green.