I find this amazing.Landing on the wings of prayers.
Photo by Reuters
Fron New York Times: In a split second, a pilot becomes a hero.
They all got out alive.
The 155 passengers and crew aboard US Airways Flight 1549 scrambled to safety yesterday after the jet’s pilot coolly landed the aircraft in the frigid waters of the Hudson River and a fleet of ferry boats helped pluck the passengers off the wings, where they stood waiting.
Just three minutes after taking off from LaGuardia at 3:24 p.m. and bound for Charlotte, N.C., pilot Chesley Sullenberger radioed the tower that both engines on the twin-engine Airbus A320 had shut down after it apparently flew into a flock of geese. At 3:31 p.m., the pilot landed the craft in the Hudson, avoiding Manhattan’s crowded west side.
The textbook landing, after the jet had climbed to at least 3,200 feet, was followed by a textbook rescue, as commuter ferries and emergency boats quickly scooped up the passengers as the jet floated in the water near 48th Street on one of the coldest days of the year. One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no reports of other serious injuries. Uninjured passengers were to be reunited with family members last night at the Crowne Plaza at LaGuardia Airport, while other passengers went on to Charlotte.
“We had a miracle on 34th Street,” Gov. David A. Paterson said at a news conference a few hours after the emergency landing. “I believe now we’ve had a miracle on the Hudson.”
Perfect landing
Sullenberger, 57, of Danville, Calif., “did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure everyone got out,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
One eyewitness, Ben Vonklemperer, said “it looked like any other routine landing of a plane, except that it was on water. If you want to land a plane on the water, this is exactly how to do it.”
Within minutes, passengers were able to emerge from the aircraft and, in a surreal scene, stood on the plane’s crowded wings as they waited to be rescued.
They described harrowing moments shortly after takeoff when they heard an explosion and looked out to see at least one of the engines on fire. “The left engine just blew,” said survivor Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn. “I was looking right at it because I was right there.”
“We thought we were going to circle around, but we didn’t have time. The captain said, ‘Brace for impact because we’re going down.'”
He said people put their heads on their laps and started praying. Kolodjay looked out over the water and “thought we had a chance” to survive. He said a Hail Mary.
“We hit the water pretty hard,” he said, adding that some people hit their heads on the ceiling. “It was intense. It was intense. You’ve got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing.”
Passenger Bill Zuhoski, 23, of Cutchogue, said “people rushed to the back of the plane. I thought I was going to drown back there. For a second I thought I was just going to die.” Immersed in water almost up to his neck, he stripped off his clothes, thinking it would be easier to swim.
Another passenger, Fred Berretta, who was on his way home to Charlotte, N.C., from a business trip, told CNN the doors were opened on both sides of the plane “as soon as we hit the water.”
As the passengers tried to scramble out, it was chaos, Kolodjay said. One woman with a baby, seated near the back, tried to crawl over the seat in front of her. “I just kept saying, ‘relax, relax. Women and children first,'” Kolodjay said. “And then it [the plane] started filling with water – fast.”
Still, Bloomberg said Sullenberger had enough time to walk through the slowly sinking plane twice to make sure all the passengers were out – either standing on the wings or in life rafts. Bloomberg said police divers had to rescue some of the passengers underwater. The one infant aboard appeared to be uninjured.
Berretta said he was part of a group that climbed onto the left wing. He said the wing was dipping into the water and “our initial thought was to see if the plane was sinking or if it would float. Our feet were pretty much in the water.” Others such as Zuhoski of Cutchogue managed to get into life rafts.
A commuter ferry, the Thomas Jefferson of the company NY Waterway, arrived within minutes of the crash, and some of its own riders grabbed life vests and lines of rope and tossed them to plane passengers in the water. At least two people were in the water when they arrived.
“They were cheering when we pulled up,” ferry captain Vincent Lombardi said. “We had to pull an elderly woman out of a raft in a sling. She was crying … People were panicking. They said, ‘hurry up, hurry up.’ We gave them the jackets off our backs.”
Crew member Hector Rabanes said: “The first time we saw it, it’s like, Is this happening?” The Thomas Jefferson and other ferries approached slowly to avoid washing passengers off the plane with the wake.
Two police scuba divers said they pulled another woman from a lifeboat “frightened out of her mind” and lethargic from hypothermia. Another woman fell off a rescue raft, and the divers said they swam over and put her on a Coast Guard boat.
Hypothermia worries
The Coast Guard estimated the water was 36 degrees, while the air was 20 degrees. Some passengers suffering from hypothermia had to be wrapped in blankets. Paramedics treated at least 78 people, fire officials said.
The plane remained afloat as it drifted downriver. Gradually, the fuselage went under until about half of the tail fin and rudder was above water. Bloomberg said the aircraft finally wound up near Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan and about four miles from where the pilot ditched it.
Fire Dept. Capt. Richard Johnson, head of the Marine Alpha One boat, said his crew passed a line through the plane’s cockpit, and then another line around the tail. They lashed both lines to their boat and to a second fire department boat, The McKeane, and then towed the plane to Battery Park City.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be there today examining the fuselage.
For some Manhattan residents, the sight of an airplane catapulting toward the Hudson River evoked fears of another 9/11-style attack. “I thought it was going to turn into a building,” Alyse Zucker told WNBC/4. But the pilot “landed it on the water … like he was landing on a runway.”
Authorities said there were no indications terrorism was involved.
The Federal Aviation Administration says there were about 65,000 bird strikes to civil aircraft in the United States from 1990 to 2005, or about one for every 10,000 flights.
“They literally just choke out the engine and it quits,” said Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot. He said air traffic control towers routinely alert pilots if there are birds in the area.
After the US Airway plane’s engines cut out yesterday, an air controller initially told the pilot to divert to an airport in nearby Teterboro, N. J., according to Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. It was not clear why Sullenberger did not land at Teterboro.
One survivor Dave Sanderson, 47, of Charlotte, said he was lucky to be alive. “The pilot, he’s the hero,” Sanderson said. “The grace of God got me off that plane.”
True it is amazing. To the passengers, pilots and crew however, it was horrifying. All of us are grateful, it did not tragically end. Thank you God.
The power of prayer, Ellen, sabi nga. I watched the interviews of some of the passengers on Larry King Live. Just shows that if the prayers are sincerely said from the heart, pinapakinggan talaga ng Panginoon. Gusto lang sigurong ipaalam ng Panginoon na hindi siya bingi sa mga taong taimtim na magdarasal sa kaniya.
Bilib ka rin doon sa piloto. Hindi muna niya pinaalam ang nangyayari sa eroplano hangga’t hindi niya natitiyak na maibaba niya ang eroplano ng mahusay. He should be commended for it.
Hindi ako matatakot na sumakay sa eroplano kapag katulad niya ang piloto. May God bless him!
I don’t the fear of flying but as soon as I buckle my seat belt, I say an act of contrition..para kung ano man ang mangyari nakahingi na ako ng patawad sa Dios. Last Nov. on our way back to the States…we met such a turbulence (Athens to Madrid) that akala ko that was the end of me..I dont know how many rosaries I prayed hanggang sa dumating kami sa Madrid…
..NYC was once again tested…Maraming takot pumunta ng NYC..but one thing I can say the people are just amazing in time of crisis..within 10 minutes after the plane landed..maraming rescuers ang tumulong…may ilan ding survivors na dinala sa JC, Hoboken, Weehawken and many opened their doors to help, hospitals, restaurants, etc. and it was so cold..but when it comes to helping in moments like this (just like in 9/11) they are united…
corr: I don’t have the fear of flying…(ang sabi ng isang kaibigan ko, lalo na daw pag full moon)..Medio alanganin pa ako sumakay sa Asian Spirit..papunta sa Antique…I go via Iloilo..paguwi ko sa August baka mag row row ako..
All I can say is that Sully the pilot did an amazing job landing the plane on water like he was landing it on concrete. He was also the last person out of the plane after twice checking and making sure all other passengers and crews have already gone out. Amazing indeed.
O.T.
I’ve been on different carriers and from what I’ve observed. Pinoy pilots are one of the best. They land planes very gently and very smoothly. Walang katalbog-talbog. 🙂
I remembered once when I went to the US several years back. When the PAL plane landed, the passengers applauded. As in palakpakan lalo na mga Kano. I overheard one saying, “that was marvelous. first time I’ve experienced such smooth landing.” Iba talaga ang Pinoy. 🙂
(Pwera lang yung mga angkan ni satanas na nasa gobyerno.)
That’s what I’ve also observed, people helping each other especially those ferries near the site. If they were one in hailing the pilot as a hero, those who helped out in those ferries should also be credited for their unselfish act. They never thought of themselves during that time despite the danger… the plane could’ve blown up or the plane could sink and could have drag them down too, not to mention the very cold weather condition at that time. There were reports also that passengers of that plane were very composed and did not panic. Some of them even help their fellow passengers, assisting a mother with 2 small kids. If the opposite happened that time and passengers panic? Life threatening injuries or even death might happen.
Simply AMAZING!
isang pagmumulat (o pagtapik) sa mga katulad kong nakakalimot na tunay na nasa tabi lamang natin ang DIYOS!
ano pang patunay ang nais natin?
ang kasalukuyang pagdarahop na dinaranas ng nakararaming kababayan nating umaasa sa isang milagro upang mapaalis sa puwesto ang sanhi ng pagdurusang hindi lamang sila kundi ang BUONG sambayanang pilipino ang nagpapasan ay isa lamang pagsubok sa katatagan ng pananampalataya at paniniwala sa tanging TAGAPAGLIKHA.
pasasaan ba, at ang bangungot na ito ay atin ding malalampasan.
tuloy lang ang laban!
Let’s give CREDIT where CREDIT is due. There were TWO PILOTS onboard.
In my view, miracle had very little to do with it — it was about airmanship.
tru blue: credits were given to all of them from the pilot and his crew.. and those who rushed to scene..ferry boats, etc. Mayor Bloomberg thanked them all..and maybe not mentioned in tha national papers but was in the local…restaurant owners in Hoboken, Weehawken, etc. opened their doors…gave the passengers food..hot food..gave them clothes (their uniforms) as they were taken
to their areas.. it was really cold..Tgrr grr Manong!
…the pilot showed what command responsibility (maybe Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will now understand)is all about…I pray that she will) he checked (walked down the aisle twice) to see that nobody is left behind.. that is what being the commander in chief is all about…hindi pinababayaan ang obligation..hindi binabayaan ang lahat na dapat pag ukulan sa iyong tungkulin… inuna niya ang iba bago ang sarili niya..a lesson for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to learn…to emulate…and all of them who helped were very modest..all they said..was it was our duty to help..kahit hindi officials..very modest..sana ang mga tauhan ni putot ay ganoon din..help those who are in need and not just themselves…sana magka milagro din sa Pasig River..just as what NYC had on the Hudson..
I have taken US1549 a few times from LGA to CLT (where I am based). It’s just like taking your routine daily MRT trip daily. This accident is rare, but will happen again, because the planners of La Guardia chose to put the airport near a swampy, marshy area, where geese choose not to stay and not migrate like the rest, fattening themselves up.
Captain Sullenberger (Sully) is a seasoned former US Airforce fighter pilot, a certified glider instructor and owns a safety consultancy firm. He was the last to leave the plane and checked the whole lenghth of the plane twice, to make sure that everyone is safely out, before coming out. A cartoon in a recent NY Post issue showed the stricken plane being lifted by angels. Captain Sully is truly an angel and a hero.
In my country, if you win a high profile, million dollar earning, boxing match, you are hailed by the so called “president”, as a hero. I’m confused.
The pilot glided the plane safely into the river. It was a perfect landing, the tail hits the water and the nose up and its wings were in balance position. The safety of the passengers is his top concern.
ParengPepe,
I’m also confused as much as you are. How the hell or should I say, what the hell did Pacman do to be called a hero? He didn’t go into boxing to save someone or the country, did he? He boxes to earn big bucks, lots and lots of moolah. Now this twirp is now demanding a 60/40 split in favor of him for his fight with Ricky Hatton despite his signing of a contract earlier agreeing to a 50/50 split. It’s either na sulsolan siya ng mga amo niyang gahaman sa pera o dili kaya ay natuto siyang maging swapang at ganid sa pera mula sa kaniyang mga amo. Alam niyo na kung sino ang tinutukoy kong amo niya.
Sorry for the O.T.
Malacañang officials made another effort on Saturday to squelch speculation that United States President-elect Barack Obama has not invited President Macapagal-Arroyo to his inauguration on January 20.
“There’s no truth to the rumors that President-elect Obama has snubbed President Arroyo again,” Secretary Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff chief, said in a phone interview.
….The Evil Bitch can invite herself.
Mike, I share your confusion. “In my country, if you win a high profile, million dollar earning, boxing match, you are hailed by the so called “president”, as a hero. I’m confused.”
There are talks that Pacquiao co-owns Hollywood, the new girlie bar on Timog. They say his business partner is Chavit Singson.
what kind of a “hero” is that?
A miracle indeed. I can see the passengers walking on water … all of them. Is there a pinoy aboard? gloria will surely claim the miracle happened because of her.
Oh, That was Pareng Pepe’s comments.
I share Pareng Pepe and Mike’s confusions.
Those of you who have watched the Obama Express train to Washington DC would notice the large crowds welcoming him in every stop over he made. At Baltimore, over 100,000 waited to see the President-elect Obama in just short notice. Why can’t we gather a decent crowd in our protest rallies against the Evil Bitch?
“There’s no truth to the rumors that President-elect Obama has snubbed President Arroyo AGAIN,” Secretary Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff chief, said in a phone interview.
Aha!!! Inamin din na na-isnub si Glo ni Barack dati. Pilit naitinatago, ngunit ito’y ay lalabas din.
mike,
di ba’t ang kabag, kapag pinipilit pigilin ay naghahanap nang paraan upang makalabas at nagiging UTOT?
bawat buka ng bibig nitong mga utuutong tagapagsalita ng babaeng parang daga na merong bangaw sa mukha ay katulad ng UTOT na saksakan ng bantot kaya hindi dapat pang pag-aksayahan ng oras pakinggan at paniwalaan.