Miracle on the Hudson [MERGED]

[TUGBrian]

I also saw a note from my buddy who is a first responder in nyc, the plane floated all the way downtown and is currently tied up to a dock in battery park. Thats just impressive.

 

[Pat H]

According to what I saw on TV, the reason the plane stayed afloat is because it remained in 1 piece. The baggage compartment acted as an air bubble and kept the plane up. In order to do that, the pilot had to keep the plane level when he hit the water. Usually one of the wings will strike the water and either snap off or cause the plane to flip. The more I think about it, the more amazing it is!

 

[FlyerBobcat]

According to what I saw on TV, the reason the plane stayed afloat is because it remained in 1 piece. The baggage compartment acted as an air bubble ......

Also heard from a pilot on the news this AM about the use of the Airbus Ditch Button.

 

[Luanne]

Bye the way, the captain of the aircraft was a woman. Nice going Captain.

Are you sure? In the news in my area the captain was said to be a local "boy".

Saw the corrections after I posted.

 

[KCI]

Are you sure? In the news in my area the captain was said to be a local "boy".

Sorry all, I was watching Lou Dobbs on CNN last night about 8:30 PM EST and he was interviewing what I thought was a female pilot and was congratulating her for the great job. He even asked her if she would get some time off after this experience and she said No that she had a 5 AM flight the next day. Then he said Thanks again Captain, great job. I guess I just read something into it that wasn't there. My Bad. :ignore:
KCI's Wingman

 

[bigrick]

I'm sure part of what helped was that this was a relatively short flight for a plane that is capable of flying coast-to-coast so the fuel tanks would not have been full. This would have contributed to its buoyancy. Of course I'd say at least 99% of the credit goes to the flight crew.

I read this today in an Associated Press article:

Another possibly helpful factor during a crash is the presence of fuel on board. Jet fuel is lighter than water, and can help make an aircraft more buoyant - as long as it doesn't explode on impact. The air in the cabin also helps the plane float.

 

[FlyerBobcat]

fuel vs. air

Another possibly helpful factor during a crash is the presence of fuel on board. Jet fuel is lighter than water, and can help make an aircraft more buoyant - as long as it doesn't explode on impact. The air in the cabin also helps the plane float.

Hmmmm. I'm not a pilot (and don't play one on TV) but it seems to me that a fuel tank either has one of two things in it:

• fuel
• air

And that air would be the better buoyant material, meaning it would be betting if they were not filled (all the way).

I need help here folks.... Where has my thinking gone wrong

 

[Passepartout]

• fuel
• air

And that air would be the better buoyant material, meaning it would be betting if they were not filled (all the way).

I need help here folks.... Where has my thinking gone wrong

I'm not an engineer for Airbus, but many aircraft use flexible bladders to hold fuel, eliminating air-space (and the explosive nature thereof) in the fuel tanks. So it isn't an either/or situation. Full fuel bladders would be more buoyant than empty space filled with water. In this case, given enough time, the aircraft in question did finally sink, but fortunately after the occupants were safely departed.

Jim Ricks

 

[carl2591]

some one said on a blog site the air bus like this one was not considered a reliable aircraft.. the saying was

Airbus,, we make crappy airplanes but dam fine boats.. that was good in this case.. any other plane would have sunk faster and there could have been more problems.

 

[wackymother]

To me, another amazing thing is that the pilot plopped the plane down practically directly on the path the midtown ferries take back and forth to NJ. Ferry boats were able to rush right to the airplane from both sides of the Hudson. They got there so quickly!

I bet I know who the woman Captain is that KCI heard being interviewed. She is the newest captain for NY Waterway, which owns the ferries--they promoted her to captain last fall. Her name is Brittany Catanzaro, and she is 20 years old. Wow, huh? Here's an article about her.

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/2008-women-firsts/brittany-catanzaro.html

 

[HatTrick]

US Airways Flight 1549 Was Not the First

Perhaps even more impressive was the successful water landing and rescue of a Pan Am plane en route to San Francisco from Honolulu in 1956.

The story:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/24/MN7L15E4IC.DTL

 

[Ubil]

I just watched a video on "The Miracle on the Hudson." I did not remember that, fortuitously, the specific aircraft was equipped for extended over-water flight, which means, among other things, that the emergency slides are designed to function as rafts.