A U.S. Airways airplane has crashed into the Hudson River, CBS 2 has learned. The plane appears to be in one piece and passengers are being evaucated by rescue teams.
Officials tell CBS 2 the airplane is Flight 1549, an Airbus 380 that took off from La Guardia Aiport and headed to Charlotte, N.C. There are reports that there were about 60 people on board.
Passengers could be seen standing on the wing of the plane and entering a rescue boat.
Update: Check out the final plane speed data.Those flying just did an amazing job.
CBS News is reporting a miracle, that everyone on board is alive and out of the plane.
Puts me in mind of this story as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arland_D._Williams_Jr.
God’s grace was working overtime on this one. Praise Him!
I heard it was something about interference with birds.
link here on a bird being hit and disabling two engines.
I’ve got some relatives who are pilots and they go through a lot of training for unexpected events like this. There’s a lot of skill and hard work that goes into keeping this crash from turning into a disaster. Great credit and recognition to the pilots and those who have trained them.
And all glory to God – a miracle indeed.
Does no one feel the least bit of pity or sorrow for the unfortunate geese? The plane was after all right in their traditional migratory pathway.
The people at least are all still alive, and insured along with the airline, while God’s hapless feathered creations died a hideous death.
I’ll tell you what: I value my life and those of my wife, family, and friends FAR more than a flock of geese!
My understanding is that pilots absolutely hate to ditch in the water (they’d rather try barren land), so this gives you an idea of how dire the situation must have been. That the engine cowlings (which hit the water first with incredible force) apparently stayed in tact along with the rest of the plane is just a miracle – I’m not aware of any water later landing like this so we may be looking at something unprecedented.
here’s some more on water landings:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123205611103787217.html
Of course, #8, that’s exactly what I expected someone to say. I have flown very recently out of JFK on a small plane (after waiting 2 hours for the wings to be de-iced), and am not at all unfamiliar with the dangers and the human side of the situation.
It’s just mildly ironic, I suppose, that on page 16 of the new US passports there is depicted a bucolic scene on a river (could be the Hudson but can’t prove that) with, guess what, a V-formation of geese flying above its course…..
This is truly a miracle. Thanks be to God!
TACit, had the poor geese migrated as they should have they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to merge in so unforunate a manner manner with the technology that consumed them. At this time of year they should be enjoying a southern clime, not the strictures of winter in New York. A rather proper Darwinian end to the poor misguided creatures, don’t you think? Unfortunate an innocent airplane had to be involved.
Sigh. You should do your homework, Dilbertnomore, for instance here:
http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/cg/cg8.html
Canada geese may winter anywhere from southern Canada to Mexico. The Atlantic flyway in which these geese (if in fact it was geese; many reports just say ‘birds’) migrate coincides with many airline routes and no doubt it’s fortunate such accidents as today’s don’t happen more. After decades spent working to re-attract Canada geese to NYS habitat, it’s some kind of ironic that this should be one of the results……
Wonder if there is much thought given to clearing the area of flocks before take-offs.
Having flown in and out of small island airports which sometimes had to be cleared of cows or goats before a take-off, one wonders about these things.
probably Muslim birds who hate freedom. we know that muslim birds aren’t like reasonable birds.
/joke
“wonder if there is much thought given to clearing the area of flocks before take-offs”
A machine gun filled with bird shot attached to the wings would probably do it! Then the food banks could come round a couple of times a day and pick up free meals for the needy.
I must say I feel, well, justified to see in an article in the NYT:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/dont-blame-mother-nature-for-the-crash/
that indeed numerous individuals and groups have taken up the problem of bird strikes, at least near airports. Who knew that already falconry and armaments (cannons) have been deployed to mitigate this hazard? and other methods are under development, since as yesterday’s accident in the Hudson showed this is altogether too serious a threat to safety.
TACit [#15]: Interesting article by Bruce Barcott about the role of suburban sprawl in increasing the population of large birds inured to living around humans—the birds most dangerous to airplanes. And that on top of the number of bird strikes per 10,000 flights tripling since 1990.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Not clear which goose has got your gruntlement.
PS to #16: I also enjoyed this passage from Barcott:
[i] A small corps of very smart professionals . . . use Doppler radar that . . . “measures the amount of meat in the air.†They let mature red-tailed hawks, which know how to stay away from planes, keep nests near runways to scare less intelligent species (hello, gulls!) out of the area. [/i]
Yes on both 16 and 17 – and it was a surprise to me to read that the geese are way up in numbers due mainly to the increased number of fairways, and reclaimed wetlands, which NYS has of course worked hard to facilitate. This bird problem is only going to get more serious, judging from the worldwide proliferation of fairways that glossy AA magazines all depict…..
Ongoing reading about the plane’s river landing has actually been very sobering for me, as within the past 6 weeks I flew just over 27,000 miles. (Who knew that over easternmost Siberia in early January, the air temperature at 35,000 feet is in fact minus 90F?)
I am one who reads the dang safety card every time I board, no matter how familiar it is (and then I worry until remembering to pray instead). And on the set of flights I just made across the US with my son, since we had ‘paid’ with double mileage points we were ‘treated’ to the extra leg room in, wait for it, the emergency exit rows. Each time the attendant asked if son was old enough and if we were prepared to ‘lead the charge’, so to speak, I mentally rehearsed the procedure, secretly hoping son would be prepared to actually twist the door and heave it out. Now it could become a kind of ongoing nightmare…..