Can i object to the term CRASHES. this was a text book example of an emergency landing on water .. NOT a crash.. It shows how good airline pilots training is and the experience and fortitude of the pilot to put the bird down in one piece with only one Major injury,

wiz

PS are airbus likely to change name to air-boat

PPS can the captain apply to the Guinness book of world records for the most wing walkers at a time on one aircraft

Wizard HT Mod wrote:

PS are airbus likely to change name to air-boat

That might aready be trademarked for the craft used on the everglades! It's more of a submarine-bus now anyway.

Wizard HT Mod wrote:

PPS can the captain apply to the Guinness book of world records for the most wing walkers at a time on one aircraft

Quite possibly!!! The photo of the passengers evacuating along the wing is scary, but also quite spectacular.

It's a shame the legal people in America are trying to persue legal case against the airline for vast sums of compensation for the passengers. It must have been very traumatic for all concerned, but early indications lead to an accident; no one was to blame it was just bad luck. Instead of praising those concerned, they are pointing fingers and trying to make money out of it. Who are they going to sue? The poor birds that got roasted in the engines!

Darren

the legal people in America are trying to pursue legal case against the airline for vast sums of compensation

is this not a sad reflection on the money grabbing ethos across the pond [which unfortunately had spread to this country]

wiz

When I was in Naples Florida a few years ago I went to the car to get our Video recorder and just at that moment a small plane came down in the water next to the car park..Everyone got out safely and people were asking me if I caught it on video.
I was embarrassed to say I didnt know how to work the darned thing.

Can i object to the term CRASHES

Duly noted....subject changed to ditches, that better?

Hats off to the guys that were up front. An amazing piece of flying in my opinion as it was the first water landing that ended well as Darren said. What puzzles me is why when the engines where ripped off, the whole aircraft didn't spin like the ethiopian 767 in '96? Can anyone shed some light on this. My first thought was that the aircraft landed at a different angle to the water?

Alasdair

roboa wrote:

What puzzles me is why when the engines where ripped off

That's what they are designed to do in this scenario as they cause huge amounts of drag and act as drogues; there's less drag after they are ripped off theoretically giving you a gentler deceloration and stopping the nose from dropping in to the water too quickly and porposing the aircraft. That's the same reason why landing gear should be retracted for water landings so as not to cause excess drag. They'd also rip off and likey puncture the fuselage leading to water ingress.

roboa wrote:

the whole aircraft didn't spin like the ethiopian 767 in '96?

That's the precise reason why the pilots are receiving so much praise. The precision involved in what they did is nothing short of amazing. Having flown light aircraft, it's not as easy as it looks to keep them straight and level! And especially not under the strenuous conditions they had. The Ethiopian ended as is did because the port side wing hit the water first, it was banked to the left. This resulted in the aircraft yawing to the left and spinning out of control, breaking the aircraft in to several pieces. Because the pilot in this case manage to bring the aircraft in straight and level, and gentle lower it on to the water with millimeter precision at pretty much stall speed (120kn I'm lead to beleive), the aircraft stayed level and came to a much gentler rest. I can't emphasise enough how good of a job they did, not only in the preparation and execution of the approach, but in minimising injuries upon landing. The split second decision making in knowing they couldn't make a diversionary airport and think of putting down in the river, and all the preparation required, is commendable. One problem with aircraft with engines under the wings, they tend to dig in to water on splashdown. Unless both engines hit the water at exactly the same time, you'll have a similar results to the that of the Ethiopian. That's not to take anything away from the Ethiopian Captain, he was under immense pressure as the aircraft had been hijacked, run out of fuel and he was on his own in the flight deck, other than the hijacker. He did a great job in bringing the aircraft on to the water very close to land, and it was only at the last second when things went wrong and winds veered him off course and you know what happened next. He also had larger waves to contend with (ideally you want to aproach at 90 degrees to them). The problem then were too many people inflated life jackets before the aircraft landed, and therefore couldn't get out after landing. If only they'd have listened to the safety instructions, more would have got out as many were found to have drowned. In the US Airways case, everyone were well drilled and the cabin crew did a fantastic job in the actual evacuation deploying the slides (rafts) and getting passengers on to the wings to the awaiting boats. There was a bit of luck involved, and bad luck in the first place, but I think the crew made their luck through their textbook airmanship
Darren

Thanks for that Darren

Total kudos to the crew. We train long and hard for eventualities such as this, hopefully never to put it into practice. I just wish that some passengers would take more interest instead of chatting and mocking. If I was US Airways, I would be very proud.

Thanks for that, too, from me Darren

vic8700, I was a frequent, and very petrified flyer for many years, never knowing what any of the noises meant on aircraft etc etc, until one very kind American lady took the time during a long flight to explain very explicitly what was happening every time I "jumped" during that flight. I agree that passengers should take more note of the safety procedure, and I always do, but each time I fly, I do find the safety demonstrations more and more perfunctuary. Perhaps these need looking into?

madsue,

I do agree with you. Some of the safety demo videos are a little on the boring side and passengers get turned off by them. They are providing vital information but I think some think 'that'll never happen to me', especially frequent fliers who are used to seeing the videos. When you do need to recal the information though, it needs to be fresh in your mind. There used to be some really good safety videos, I quite like the ones bmi use and the Virgin one is pretty good as well. The one Thomsononfly use, although it gives you the information, is very boring!! I suppose its difficult to make something to relay the right message without scaring people, while being politcally correct and able to understand by all ages.

Darren

As the pics of the lifted plane show, one engine remained attached!! so it is even more amazing that the a/c did not twist etc after skimming across the water, it does explain why that side of the a/c was tilted after the event etc

I was quite surprised when I saw the images of the aircraft lifted and the starboard engine still under the wing. Just shows you can never trust the information provided after these events! It it amazing that the aircraft came to a rest, and in tact given that.

Darren

MB or Daz

are thease picturs available on line? i have had a google but could not find them

thanks

wiz

Brian,

There's plenty over on the Airliners.net forums from residents in NYC.

Darren

thanks Darren.. enjoy your trip

brian

flying friday morning from gatwick to phil then onto las vegas. leave gatwick at 10.10

any one know what the planes are like seat pitch, food, and entertainment.

cheers carl

tofwig,

Please quote flight numbers when requesting aircraft information as there are several flights. I'm assuming you're on the US733 from LGW-PHL (Airbus A330-323X) connecting to US383 from PHL-LAS (Airbus A321-200). Seat pitches (assuming economy) are 31/32" respectively. You'll find further aircraft details and inflight services on US Airways website. There's plenty of passenger opinion on Airline Quality and Car Survey (Flights).

Darren

We're flying US Airways to Las Vegas via PHL. On the outward trip we have a 4 hour stay at PHL, are we allowed out of the airport while we wait for the connecting flight, or are we confined to the airport site?

Thanks