"Miracle on the Hudson"

Being a person who travels by airplane too much in my career, I was captivated by the successful ditching of the US Air flight yesterday in New York. I think they should give this pilot a ticker tape parade. He is a certified glider pilot and experts say this may have been the biggest factor in his success. The fact that he kept the plane from breaking up as he made the turn over the Hudson with both engines out is amazing. According to the news coverage this pilot accomplished a feat that has never been done before.

When I say it has never been done before, that is a fact. There has never, before yesterday, been a successful "ditching" of an passenger airline in water.... ever. The speech you always get from the flight attendants about life jackets, and floating seat cushions until now has been a total fairy tale. In most cases the plane breaks up, cartwheels or nose dives when it hits water. There is never a chance for any sort of organized evacuation. The only way an evacuation is even attempt able assumes that the plane can glide slowly to a stop in one piece. Until yesterday no pilot has ever been able to do that successfully.

Three cheers for Captain "Sully". I think they should advertise which plane he will be flying next so we can all book that flight. For me, I will no longer scoff at the instructions the attendants give about inflating my life jacket after leaving the plane. I will also be hoping that they take the black box of Flight 1549 and program Capt Sullenberger's technique into the simulators.

As you were,
Jay