On the morning of January 15, 2009, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was the captain of US Airways Flight 1549 along with First Officer Jeffrey Skiles. As their Airbus A320 was taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, the aircraft struck a large flock of birds (Canada geese) and lost complete power in both engines at only 2,818 feet in altitude. Quickly determining he would be unlikely to reach either LaGuardia or Teterboro airport, Sullenberger uttered the famous words over the radio when asked if he could make KTEB. Sully simply transmitted the word “UNABLE”.
.
Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles then directed their aircraft toward the waters of the Hudson River. Capt Sullenburger said that the moments before the ditching was "the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling" that he had ever experienced.
Continuing their descent southwards at about 125 knots aiming at the middle of the North River section of the Hudson tidal estuary roughly opposite West 50th Street (near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum) in Manhattan, Flight 1549 touched down and came to a rest on the surface of the Hudson waters completely intact at 3:31 pm.
Sullenberger immediately opened the cockpit door and ordered evacuation. The crew began evacuating the passengers through the four overwing window exits and into an inflatable slide/raft deployed from the front right passenger door.
All 155 people on board survived and were rescued thanks to the efforts of nearby NY Waterway ferries Thomas Jefferson and then Governor Thomas H. Kean which both arrived within minutes. The last passenger deplaned the aircraft at 3:55 pm. Sullenberger walked the cabin twice to confirm it was empty.
.
The accident came to be known as the "Miracle on the Hudson", and a National Transportation Safety Board official described it as "the most successful ditching in aviation history” all thanks to the calm and professional management of an impossible emergency situation by Capt Sully, and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles.
The pilot in command was 57-year-old Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, a former USAF Phantom Driver who had been an airline pilot since leaving the United States Air Force in 1980. The FO was Jeffrey B. Skiles, 49, on the last leg of his first assignment in the Airbus A320 since completing the 320 training.
The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators awarded the flight crew of Flight 1549 a Master's Medal on January 22, 2009. The medal is awarded quite rarely for outstanding aviation achievements at the discretion of the Master of the Guild. The citation for the award is:
"The reactions of all members of the crew, the split-second decision making and the handling of this emergency and evacuation was 'textbook' and an example to us all. To have safely executed this emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement. It deserves the immediate recognition that has today been given by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.”
The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, presented the Keys to the City to the crew of Flight 1549.
Lastly, Capt. Sullenberger was handed a replacement copy of a library book he lost on board the flight.
“We need to try to do the right thing every time, to perform at our best, because we never know which moment in our lives we’ll be judged on.”
― Chesley B. Sullenberger
Leave a comment