New York Plane Crash: Airliner Ditches in River
Bird Strike Causes Complete Loss of Power to Airbus A320
Jan 16, 2009
On 15th January 2009 pilot Chesley Sullenberger managed to land his Airbus A320 airplane in the Hudson River in New York, after losing both engines following a collision with a flock of birds. All 155 people on board were pulled to safety as the plane sank. The governor called the event “a miracle on the Hudson”.
What Happened to the Plane After Take-Off?
The Airbus A320 took off from LaGuardia Airport, bound for Charlotte, N. C. Immediately after take-off it hit a flock of birds. Both engines cut out, forcing the pilot to prepare for an emergency landing. He tried to reach a small airport on his route, but realized it would be impossible.
Since he was over the built-up area of Manhattan, he elected to land in the River Hudson, the safest place. However, ‘ditching’ an airliner is not an easy maneuver. According to passengers, the pilot told them to ‘brace for impact’, before landing the aircraft. It has been termed a textbook landing, and another passenger said that they hit the water pretty hard, but were fine.
After the Ditching
The passengers climbed out on to the wings as the aircraft began to sink. Rescuers arrived quickly in Coast Guard vessels and ferries, but the airplane was submerged up to its windows by the time everyone could be rescued.
The temperature was around 20 degrees C, with a water temperature of 36 degrees. In such temperatures, people can die of exposure after only a few minutes. However, one passenger had two broken legs, and this was the worst injury. Others were treated for hypothermia, bruises, and other minor injuries.
The A320’s Pilot
Chesley Sullenberger is an ex-US Air Force fighter pilot and an airline safety expert with 40 years of experience. He was thus an ideal person to have to deal with such an emergency. Pilots train for such things to happen, as gliding an airliner without engines is quite possible, though not easy.
But it is very rare for anyone to actually have to deal with something like this. Although bird strikes are a danger to aircraft, an occurrence such as this is also extremely unusual.
What Caused the Engines to Stop?
According to aviation analyst Chris Yates, it is likely that the ingestion of the birds by the engines “fatally damaged blades in the engines with the resultant debris being sucked further into the power plants and causing much greater damage. This is also likely to have led to significant electrical power loss aboard the stricken airliner”. Thus the plane would not have had sufficient power to continue, or enough airspeed or altitude to go back to LaGuardia. Landing on the water therefore represented the best available option.
It should be noted that the Airbus A320 has an excellent safety record, and incidents such as this are extremely rare. However, the pilot did a great job. Teams of investigators will now examine the aircraft to determine the precise cause of the crash.
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