• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

US AIRWAYS Crash in the Hudson River

Would most crews take the same actions as Flight 1549 and be as successful?

  • YES.

    Votes: 40 59.7%
  • NO.

    Votes: 27 40.3%

  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
The guarded A-320 "ditching switch" ... When the guard is raised and it is pushed, it commands ...

We have 'similar' functions and a switch or two in the WHALE -- it's just that most items are accomplished manually on the checklist ... assuming you have time ... :D

But in ANY ditching situation ... you have to remember that MOST procedures and best laid plans of mice & men AND any "gouge" are directed toward the "after-landing" portion of the emergency ... that's what you spend most of the time in the tank and in the simulator practicing for as I don't think too many birds are FAA certified for water landings/ditchings ... :)

If you're REALLY gotta' do it ... it IS a 'wing & a prayer' situation ... fate, luck, Providence, whatever you want to call it ..
 

ea6bflyr

Working Class Bum
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
A bird strike FODs an engine so well it won't likely restart. The compressor blades are too damaged. Then again, many FODed engines continue to make some degree of thrust.
Not sure of the A320, but every other airliner I have flown the ignition is on for take off. So if it quits and you still have fuel and decent rotation, it may restart on it's own.

Yep. We always have our ignition in CONTINUOUS for takeoff and landings. But like you said, it's dependent on favorable conditions like rotation > 10%, fuel flow, etc, whereas, airstarting is an overt action.

Captain's account according to this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28688215/
...
They (primarily the FO) did atttempt air restart.

Question answered. Thanks jcj.

-ea6bflyr ;)
 

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
Someone mentioned "successful" intentional ditchings -- or at least moderately successful ones (discounting the possible 1000's of WW2 and earlier) -- prior in the thread. I can't remember specifics of the question(s) and I'm not going back to cull it out, but I remember two relatively successful ditchings from the 50's .... one in Puget Sound and one on a HNL-SFO Trans-Pac. Not jet's, but the biggest & best of the day for air travel -- both involved the Boeing Stratocruiser:

Northwest Orient Flight 2

Pan American Flight 6 (this one even had a picture or two)

And both in 1956 ... and both, ironically, shortly following the release of the movie "The HIGH & the MIGHTY" which didn't do too much for the traveling public's confidence level when boarding a plane for a long overwater flight ... at least I know that was true for my Mother when we boarded a plane in the '50's for HNL-Mainland flights !!!
:D

SLAP!! SLAP!! SLAPPPPPPP!!

"Thanks ... I needed that ... "
:)



First "disaster flick" (?) ... but a great theme song in anyone's book ... :)

The High and the Mighty (IMDB movie database)

Theme song High and the Mighty (Muzzy Marcellino) -- lousy video w/ a great whistle ...

Something like this might work mo' bettah w/ that great whistle:

 

FlyinRock

Registered User
Putting your coat on before evacuating a ditched aircraft in the winter is a survival issue, not image. As to image, it is actually procedure at my airline that on evacuating the aircraft the pilots put their hats on. That is so they are immediately recognizable by the passengers as an authority figure. In a crowd, without a hat, you are just another passenger in a white shirt and tie. Many pilots have lobbied the company to get rid of the hat. Company says no, and this is one of the biggest reasons.
**********************8
Thanks for the clarification
Rocky
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
The Captain's media appearance was cancelled at the request of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association. The association apparently has 'interested party' status in the investigation and doesn't want that status compromised.

From their President:

"If the NTSB perceives that we are in any way compromising the objectivity of the investigation by innocuously releasing information to the media, our status will be rescinded and we will be unable to help determine the causal factors leading up to this very positive and well-documented outcome"*

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipKRkY9XnWmqqvBNAlBju1taRJCQD95PPNE00


*Just the direct quote is posted, presume no copyright issues
 

plc69

Banned
There was an inadvertent(read CFIT) ditching of a JAL DC8-62 in SFO Bay around 1968. Smooth landing, no serious injuries and the airplane may still be flying.
 

exhelodrvr

Well-Known Member
pilot
Based on the links some of you have provided, it sounds like the majority of the controlled ditchings have gone smoothly.
 

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
The Captain's media appearance was cancelled at the request of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association. The association apparently has 'interested party' status in the investigation ...
It always does and always will: that's SOP for the airlines -- just like the squadron/Wing/Command would/should CNX any "media opportunities" in the military aviation world after a crash ... ALPA (Airline Pilots Association) is the pilot's representative in commercial aviation mishaps among other things --- ALPA is our sponsor, guardian, big brother, and legal representative -- and we wouldn't have it any other way as long as "blame the pilot" is all too frequently management and the FAA's default position ...

Does anyone want to place any bets on who is going to be ALPA's choice for the annual "Air Safety Award" ??? ... i.e., the highest award that the peer group can bestow on a line pilot or airline crew ... :)

They -- the pilots and the flight attendants of this flight -- have my vote for "Crew of the Year" ... :icon_mi_6:icon_mi_6:icon_mi_6
 

plc69

Banned
Well, there was a 1970 ONA DC9 crash off St. Croix that was deliberate and powered. The Captain believed he was near fuel starvation and opted for ditching. It was a rough landing and before the survivors were recovered there were in excess of 20 fatalities. I was told some of these fatalities were due to sharks but can't say for sure; however, ditching an airliner would not be on my to do list.
 

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
There was an inadvertent(read CFIT) ditching of a JAL DC8-62 in SFO Bay around 1968. Smooth landing, no serious injuries and the airplane may still be flying.

That plane WAS refurbished and returned to line service -- go figure. It WAS at a time when JAL was still coming up and needed every piece of airplane they could get their hands on ...

The JAL Captain Kohei Asoh (J airline CAPTs are treated like gods in Japan and seldom have to answer for anything ... if only ... *sigh* ... here ... *sigh*:icon_cryi) was an WW2 IJN pilot veteran (obviously not a Kamikaze) and when he took the witness stand during the NTSB hearing, he reportedly said:

" ... ahhhhh ... as you Amelicans say ... Asoh fuck up ... " :D

This has since become known in the airlines as the "ASOH Defense" ... i.e., a situation wherein YOU fuck up and lay it all on the line during the postmortem and just admit it ... :)
 

Catmando

Keep your knots up.
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor

Does anyone want to place any bets on who is going to be ALPA's choice for the annual "Air Safety Award" ??? ... i.e., the highest award that the peer group can bestow on a line pilot or airline crew ... :)

They -- the pilots and the flight attendants of this flight -- have my vote for "Crew of the Year" ... :icon_mi_6:icon_mi_6:icon_mi_6
Ordinarily they would be. But unfortunately USAirways pilots decertified ALPA not too long ago and set up their own separate "in-house" union – the US Airline Pilot Association (USAPA). This was the result of the divisive post-merger seniority integration arbitration award under ALPA merger policy. But as you say, their policies in this situation are the same SOP and protect the pilots. And yes the entire crew would have my vote too for the award.
 

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
Ordinarily they would be. But unfortunately USAirways pilots decertified ALPA not too long ago and set up their own separate "in-house" union – the US Airline Pilot Association (USAPA). This was the result of the divisive post-merger seniority integration arbitration award under ALPA merger policy. But as you say, their policies in this situation are the same SOP and protect the pilots. And yes the entire crew would have my vote too for the award.
You might very well be right on the "award" ... but I remember ALPA (spell-checks as 'ALPO', btw) giving it out in the past to non-ALPA crewmembers, so w/ all things political (politics even in ALPA, right CAT?? :D) I think ALPA might see this as an "opening" to the USAir(ways) pilot group and I don't think CAPT Prater can pass up the opportunity to swallow yet another microphone ... :D

Ergo, I think it's a "good" bet ...
 
Top