WCBS - Skiles / Sullenberger Hudson River Plane Incident

On the afternoon of 01/15/09 US Airways Flight 1549 outbound from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in route to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) struck a large flock of Canada Geese during takeoff (above the Bronx) causing a catastrophic dual engine failure status of engines #1 and #2. Pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III of Danville, CA and his Co-Pilot Jeffrey Skiles of Oregon, Wisconsin, attempted an emergency landing procedure into NYC's portion of the Hudson River with an UNBELIEVABLY successful outcome when the initial incident reports came back showing a zero death toll. Radar data shows the plane maneuvering in a fishhook pattern after leaving LGA and then gliding down into the Hudson River from an altitude of 900 feet. As it hit the water, the plane was straight and level and under such fine coordination that the tail was able to make splashdown prior to the wings. This caused the necessary reduction in velocity prior to the wings hitting the water which could have broke apart the plane as we have witnessed in a similar video from the November 1996 hijacking incident of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 off the coast of Comoros. Flight 1549 splashed to a halt near the USS Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum and was eventually towed to and moored to a dock in the Southern part of NYC known as Battery Park City. The investigation is ongoing. The next day at 18:00 01/16/08 WCBS-TV became the first station to feature actual video of the plane's emergency landing procedure. The incident is now being dubbed by the media as, "The Miracle on the Hudson." I would personally like to see him (and his co-pilot) awarded with the Congressional Gold Medal, for this heroism. The key to the city, may not be enough to do justice. But that's just my own personal opinion.

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YouTube | January 17, 2009

Tags:. .outbound. .laguardia. .copilot. .sully. .danville