PHOTOS: US Airways Flight 1549
January 15, 2009
Flightpath of US Airways Flight 1549
Flightpath of US Airways Flight 1549 flown (red). Alternative trajectories to Teterboro (blue) and back toward La Guardia (purple) were simulated for the investigation. This reference states:
In his book “Fly by Wire,” William Langewiesche said that the NTSB ran a simulation at Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, to duplicate the flight operated by Sullenberger and Skiles. Wrote Langewiesche: “In the setup there were two important differences from the actual flight. First, the starting point was the location of the bird strike itself, not the location where Sullenberger came out of his turn. Second, the pilots knew the game in advance.”
When the four pilots participating in the simulation responded immediately to the loss of power from the bird strike, all four were able to return safely to LaGuardia.
But in recognition that it wasn’t reasonable to expect a pilot to assess the situation and react instantly, the NTSB imposed a 30-second delay before simulator pilots could turn back to LaGuardia, Langewiesche added, “and every one of them crashed.”
But the real world reaction time is known: the reaction that the 1549 crew actually flew. And with the turn to the south that they actually did on the day of the incident, La Guardia was within glide distance (purple path, lower fork).
On top of this, the NTSB delay imposed on the simulator pilots neglects to state the fact that such a 30-second delay would put the jet closer to a glided approach to Teterboro Runway 24, which was reachable with or without the delay. Flight 1549 asked Air Traffic Control:
“What’s over to our right? Anything in New Jersey? Maybe Teterboro?”
But this question was not initiated until near the 3:29pm marker (8 seconds prior). As can be seen on the map, by this time the aircraft was nearly abeam Teterboro Rwy 24 and could no longer land there.
Recovery effort for US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, taken from the New Jersey side, at Stevens Institute of Technology
A bird feather found in the left (#1) engine of US Airways Flight 1549. The flight had been forced to ditch in the Hudson River, reportedly due to bird strikes.
The crew of US Airways Flight 1549:
Doreen Welsh, Donna Dent, Sheila Dail, co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles, and Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, III.
