Bingo, this guy knows his airplane. Nice write-up.


QUOTE=Allegheny;3249821]Sully did go off script. It's because he knew the aircraft very well. For the record I have flown with him on several occasions. Starting the APU is on the second page of the Engine Out portion of the QRH. That dual flameout provision was / is for high altitude flame out. Sully was old school Airforce and had a lot committed to memory, even if it wasn't required.

The important thing about starting the APU out of sequence was not necessarily getting an airstart. It was keeping the computers on line and staying in Normal Law.

If you have seen the Tom Hanks movie, it is accurate to a T because they used flight and cockpit voice recorder data. The simulator scenes were flown by US Airways check-airmen.

In one scene in the cabin, the lights went out. That was the generators dropping off line. The engines were windmilling enough to give erratic power and hydraulics. Starting the APU guaranteed good computers and Alpha protection. Erratic power and hydraulics could have led to an Alternate Law situation where you lose Alpha Floor protection. With the APU on it also guaranteed blue hydraulics at full power, which supports normal flight controls.

Alpha Floor protection enabled Sully to hold full aft stick prior to impact and it allowed the aircraft to settle into the water without stalling. There is not a great deal of technique required, just keep the wings level and the aircraft will land at the slowest possible speed with a nose up attitude.

The movie also stated that the engines were producing power. What they were looking at was the auto start function. When the engines registered a failure on ECAM, placing the start switch in air start turned on ignition and introduces start fuel. The engines would accelerate however due to the damage the egt limits were hit and the sequence would start over again. The engines were so badly damaged they wouldn't run without over-temping.[/QUOTE]

 

Thanks guys always appreciated. I’m not familiar with the Airbus systems, those were well written explanations on the matter to interpret for a common man like myself.

Any truth to his personality? Was he actually one of the most bid avoided CA’s at said domicile? Was he known to be disrespectful while riding the JS?

 

I always got along with him just fine. He was not a gregarious person and he was a little stiff. He was the ALPA safety chairman for the old PSA and took his safety duties very seriously. He was easy to get along with and very professional. He drank very little didn't smoke and worked out a lot.

We were paired for a month on PIT red-eyes. The flight went from PIT to SFO at around 6:00PM Eastern and we landed in SFO at about 8:00PM pacific. You had all the next day and takeoff was at about 10:PM the next day. All night flight arriving in PIT at around 6:00AM. Sully flew this trip regularly so he could go home in SFO. West Coast guys would double up on these and adjust the schedules and trip swap to max out time home.

I only flew these trips because it was the last line available in PIT before they closed the base in 2008.

 

There's no TOGA button, and I never heard or read any analysis that the damaged engines would have worked well enough at max thrust to make it back to the field. As opposed to just exploding or vibrating off the wing.

I don't recall any jet where the engine fail procedure is TOGA or firewall, as far as I can recall it's always thrust lever idle, then restart checklist.

Now with a dual flameout at low altitude it would be within PIC discretion to try firewall thrust, but I don't think it's SOP and in this case would have clearly risked a catastrophic mechanical failure.

Probably best not to repeat stuff like that unless you have personal experience with it. Just as likely a spiteful rumor started by mil-hating civilians, or disgruntled regional pilots who didn't like getting called out by the man. See how that works?

 

Sure sounds good. But this is absolutely not what alpha floor does... Do you have an Airbus type? First, it's wrong. Alpha floor is an auto thrust only function. Second, it's inhibited below a certain altitude (although the gear being up might have blocked that inhibition, been off the plane for a while).

My understanding was that the airplane was in alternate law at impact, due to the hydraulic issues and being single generator. I could be wrong, sure. But, you're throwing alpha floor around like someone who hasn't flown the bus, which casts doubt on the rest of your "analysis."


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Facts. Who cares if he was a rumored jerk, zero fatalities, enough said

Funny reading the non Airbus pilot breakdown of the event.

 

So because it’s a rumor that I don’t have “personal experience” with I can’t ask fellow pilots who may? The whole forum is nothing but rumors and “I heard this”. I’ve never met sully “personally” but people who have met him, have nothing great to say about the guy. It was stated directly from a source on a podcast that an aspiring pilot who looked up to him, introduced himself and his ambitions, was quickly blown off by sully to a point of being disrespected in front of others. So, I think it’s fair to ask this type of question on an open forum.

 

I wasn’t breaking down anything, as I have no experience or an Airbus QRH in front of me to confirm if any of what I was told held any merit. I made it clear I thought it sounded like bs, which is why I asked the question.

 

Plenty of heroes are actually flawed humans….because, you know…..humans are flawed. I met Chuck Yeager once…total DIKK. Neil Armstrong…..known to be an a-hole. One great act only defines a person in a superficial manner when it comes to fame. It’s perfectly ok to think Sully did an awesome thing and saved scores of lives…..and also think he’s a total chump to hang out with. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

 

Well said.


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