One of September's most anticipated premieres is the American film Miracle on the Hudson, directed by Wedge Eastwood. Todd Komarnika’s scenario is based on the true events of January 15, 2009, when pilots of the New York – Charlotte (North Carolina) flight made an emergency landing on the Hudson of an US Airways aircraft 308 seconds after takeoff. The article is devoted to one of the few aviation incidents that cost no casualties due to the flawless actions of the crew.
Accident
Flight 1549 departed from La Guardia Airport late. Due to bad weather, one hundred and fifty passengers and five crew members were waiting for permission to take off until 15:24. The sky cleared, but a storm was expected, so people dreamed of getting to their destination as quickly as possible. The French-made Airbus A320 was in operation for only 10 years and was reputed to be a fairly reliable aircraft, so there were no signs of trouble. For the experienced crew, the fourth day of flights ended, after which rest was to follow.
At the 91st second, the co-pilot saw a flock of birds with lateral vision, after which there was a feeling that the airliner stopped abruptly, having encountered a concrete wall. Both engines stalled, while a fire started in the left. Having transmitted a distress signal, the crew began to verify their actions with a map of emergency procedures. The engine restart was not possible due to the low altitude, and the landing strip proposed by the airport controller did not guarantee success. The A320 crash landing on Hudson seemed the only way out in a difficult situation. The captain of the airliner had only seconds to make a decision, on whose loyalty 155 people depended.
Crew
By fate, the liner was in the hands of an experienced crew.
Captain Chesley Sullenberger, born in 1951, was to celebrate his fifty-eighth birthday a few days later. He has years of military service and a raid of 19, 663 hours. For twenty-nine years, a top-class pilot devoted himself to civil aviation; he was an aviation safety expert.
For forty-nine-year-old Jeffrey Skiles, this was one of the first flights on the Airbus A320. But he was perfectly prepared theoretically, for he had just finished retraining for this class of aircraft, having a total flight time of 15, 643 hours.
The landing of the A320 on the Hudson seemed both the only possible way to avoid disaster. Deciphering the negotiations in the cockpit of the liner will show how accurate and calm their actions were, which will allow the mayor of New York to call Chesley Sullenberger “Captain Calm”. The flight attendants who prevented a panic on board were also experienced. Each of them has given aviation over 25 years.
Emergency landing
When the smell rang out around the cabin and the sound of the engines died out, fear seized the passengers. Hearing a characteristic sign of turning on the microphone, everyone hoped for a message that the plane would return to the airport and everything would be fine. But the captain of the liner announced his readiness for a hard landing. Chesley Sullenberger turned the A320 south towards the river, although along the route he moved in a northeast direction. The co-pilot provided the tightness required during splashdown. Landing on the Hudson required a delicate accuracy of maneuver, otherwise a catastrophe became inevitable. The electronic brain continued to work. The crew commander managed to balance the balance without hitting George Washington’s bridge, and at a minimum speed land the plane opposite Manhattan.
It seemed that the liner immediately rushed to the bottom. Some parts cut off from him, people threw people around the cabin, but, after a short time, it surfaced like a float. Somewhere a leak formed, the cabin began to fill with ice water. The crew organized the evacuation of passengers. Having seized the watercraft, people began to get out through emergency exits to the wings. No one knew if an airliner could explode, but the low temperature of the water did not allow them to sail on their own. Only after 10 minutes the first rescue ferries arrived, the evacuation of the victims began, 78 of which received various injuries. But, most importantly, everyone was alive.
Cause of the accident
In history, landing on the Hudson River was one of eleven cases of splashdown. There were no casualties in five. This was the fourth good fortune, but the company lost a vehicle worth $ 75 million. It was necessary to thoroughly study the cause of the accident and evaluate the activities of the pilots. The people of the United States immediately turned them into national heroes, and the mayor of New York handed the captain a symbolic key to the city. But until all circumstances were clarified, both were suspended from work. Jeffrey Skiles will be allowed to fly in April, and Chesley Sullenberger in October 2009. The whole period of the work of the national commission, both worried about their professional reputation.
When studying turbofan engines, it was found that the compressors were completely broken. The tests carried out with the entry of birds, namely this was the main cause of the accident, never led to similar results. The found fragments of protein particles in both engines allowed DNA analysis. It was found that, by tragic accident, the airliner suffered from Canadian geese, whose weight ranged from 4 to 4.5 kg. The collision occurred with a whole flock of migratory birds. In the 20 years before the accident (landing on the Hudson River), 210 aircraft were destroyed by encounters with birds, 200 people died. The incident reiterated the need to solve an important problem.
Crew Investigation
Both engines failed at an extremely low altitude of 975 meters. No one ever taught how to operate the crew in a similar situation. Did the pilots have the opportunity to return to the airport? It was this issue that most interested the National Transport Safety Commission. They did not have enough height and exactly half the time, part of which was spent studying the problem of restarting the engine. At a speed of 400 km / h, this was not possible. In seconds, the crew needed to read 3.5 pages of instructions, which in the conditions of instant response is impossible. This revealed the need to simplify the list of control measures.
Landing on the Hudson was an outstanding example of the coordinated action of pilots who were never specifically trained in splashdown. They discussed for a long time the question of whether these classes should be included in the flight training program until another incident off the coast of Bali took place in 2013. This and other cases show how much in the air depends on the professionalism of the crew. Sullenberger and Skiles passed their exam for the highest score.
