One of the many bird strikes I had during my time in the 135 was at night (a good three hours after sunset) and in solid IMC and about 3K AGL. Not exactly the normal birdstrike window you think of.

Took it down the number number 3 engine and as luck would have it, I was adjusting the power setting when we hit it, so I was looking at the instruments, and saw no changes on the dials (gotta love the TF-33). It certainly got our attention as it sounded like someone hit the jet with a baseball bat.

After we landed, we found remains in the engine which were collected and later ID'd as a 3 to 5 lb duck.

I did NOT watch the show last night (can't stand to KC or 60 Minutes), but DID listen to the tapes when they were released last week and was very impressed by Sully's tone on the radio. Think about the confussion that exists in the first few minutes of an EP as you are trying to assess the situation and decide what to do. Sounds like they had a few choices, that quickly deminished down to only one, a water landing. The tone on the radio is so calm and matter-of-fact that it shows how well prepared and professional the entire crew was/is.

Great job by all!

 

That is one of the most BS statements here. Watch the video and see his demeanor while others are talking, as they walk into the CLT meeting. He was asked questions about himself and he answered. He may have been the one to insist that the other crewmembers be included later during the interview. If you don't have confidence in yourself and your abilities sitting in the left seat-find another line of work.

And so many are jumping on it takes a crew, etc. No one here is saying it doesn't. BUT and I mean a big BUT......the captain normally sets the tone. If he had gone all to pieces, unable to make a decision, abrogated his command authority, perhaps the outcome could have been different. His calming affect may have assisted the copilot (also a former Captain) to perform his duties in a manner consistent with the outcome.

Training new captains, I always made the suggestion to think about..."do not second guess a good decision." When one starts second guessing decisions made in the heat of battle or changing "directions", that's when trouble can set in. If one has time to reacess, then fine. But 3.5 minutes is not the time for a "group hug".

Sully is doing us all a big favor by standing up and basically giving the impression that all of us could be capable of this. This profession needs all the positive ink it can get. I think the man is doing an incredible job handling all of this. And in my opinion is demeanor is one of humility, througout.

 

Being on the West Coast, I did not see the interview until after many posts on this thread about it. However, after watching it and having a bit of time to digest it, I cannot say that Sully's use of "I" and "me" instead of "ours" or "we" is any indication of a lack of humility or wanton disregard of Skiles and the fight attendant's roles in this. In answer to Couric's question early on, he said that he took over control of the airplane. Thereafter, he answered the questions with "I" because the questions were precisely of the kind that asked what he, as Captain, did, saw and thought of, after he said it was his airplane.

I find it interesting that so many feel the need to make negative comments about what is a rare shining moment for the profession. Instead of rejoicing that one of your own was well trained and experienced enough to save 155+ lives, you are wondering why this world is calling this man and his crew heroes. You make snide comments about the FA who did not wear a uniform. Yet, none of you were there and could not have known anything that actually happened.

It is curious that those having issues are relatively low time pilots with little experience of their own. Pilots, it would seem, are their own worst enemies. Just be thankful you are being trained so that if something like that ever happened to you, that you too can save lives, including your own. Learn from this experience.

This industry and this profession have been battered for a long time. Take a moment to feel proud of what that crew did. Go misty eyed. I did.

 

Thanks, Vagabond, for that post. I, too, got a little misty eyed, and think that Sully presented himself, and the profession, very, very well. It's hard for me to imagine any discourse.

I'm a bit disappointed that the FO was not interviewed, of course. Sully mentioned that the plane was losing airspeed when he took the controls. Whether that was something that inspired him to quickly take the controls, or the fact that the FO was in a two digit experience level in the A320, or any other combination of the multitude of things transpiring.

Sully also mentioned in the first person that "he" started the APU, and he turned on the continuous ignition, in addition to what we would consider his normal tasks of flying the plane and ATC. Gotta wonder if the FO was shell shocked.

 

1800RVR......get off of your high horse.....go land in low fog

 

To all that thought Sully was to focused on "I" in the interview: keep in mind that the 60 Minutes interview is very heavily edited. It is of course edited for ratings and those ratings result from Sully looking like the hero. There were probably numerous instances of him giving credit to the crew that ended up on the editing room floor.

If you watched the Early Show on CBS this morning, which was live and un-edited, you noticed that he took every opportunity to cite the actions of the CREW. He fully acknowledged that this miracle would have been impossible without them.

A quote from Sullenberger on the Early Show:
"I must also say, this entire experience has been too much about Sully and not enough about the team..."

 

Well in defense of this guy, Katie Couric was directly asking him what HE did after the birds hit, what he was thinking, what was his response. So, he was only answering her questions, I don't think he was implying that the crew did nothing. If somebody asked me how I was doing, I wouldn't say my wife is fine. Just trying to make a point. That's all.

 

That old lady in the back. She was a drama queen.

 

Who ever said it was impossible? Can you find anyone ever that knows anything about avaition that said this? Wonder why we have floatation devices

88% of ditchings in commercial airliners have had zero fatalities. That number is the lowest given probability and when given a controlled ditching effort the number is even higher.

 

Don't think they had a lot of time to discuss the situation in accordance with CRM.