An Officer and a Gentleman

Much is being made of the "Miracle on the Hudson" in the news, and I have been following with rapt interest.

I am the daughter of a retired Air Force man, a man who loves flying and airplanes, who respects the men and women who fly. I have never been afraid of flying--I have a very healthy respect for the science involved in it, and heavy turbulence isn't my favorite thing, but I've never been afraid of it.

When I got home from work on Thursday and saw the headlines on Yahoo about a plane crashing in the Hudson, I was immediately intruigued--especially when I read that all 155 souls on board had survived. I didn't need to read the article to know that we had a terrific pilot and co-pilot on our hands.

What a lot of people don't realize, however, is that someone like Chelsey "Sully" Sullivan probably won't hold himself up as a hero. He was simply doing his job, and on Thursday, his job entailed ditching a disabled plane as quickly and safely as possible, doing everything in his power to minimize casualties to all on board. His job has made him spend hundreds of hours in a state-of-the-art flight simulator, learning how to successfuly land a plane in less-than-ideal situations. Flying is a science--it is about weight ratios and angles, altitude and speed. Consider that the 3-page checklist for an emergency landing is usually started at 30,000 feet. Flight 1549 barely reached 1/10th of that altitude.

And yet, he landed it. He got the angles exactly right, so the tail of the plane would touch before the nose (just as on a regular runway landing). He had some help from God and Mother Nature--the Hudson was relatively calm that day, which helped keep the plane from breaking up. But the fact that this Airbus didn't start doing cartwheels down the Hudson is due to one factor: it's well-trained, level-headed pilot.

To turn the aircraft and then to land it without it breaking apart was "something that can't be taught," said Barry Schiff, a retired airline pilot and aviation safety consultant. "If the plane's nose was a little higher or lower, it could have been a disaster." He said if either wing tipped to one side and hit the water the plane would have done cartwheels down the river.

But just three minutes after take off from La Guardia, with little time to consult checklists dictating how to prepare the aircraft for a water landing, and with warning lights and aural warnings likely sounding, Sullenberger managed a perfect shot into the water.

From Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Impressive as hell.

But beyond being a damn good pilot when sitting in the cockpit, he proved to be a gentleman pilot as well. As Captain, he was the last to leave the ship, walking the aisles--twice--to make sure no one had been left behind. His co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, also showed true class and gallantry, giving his dry shirt to a passenger who had gotten wet in the freezing water of the Hudson.



The word "hero" is being thrown around a lot, but if I know anything about retired Air Force guys (or any military branch, for that matter), the term will be greeted with a shake of the head and some embarassment. I can already pretty much play Sullenberger's first interview in my head. He'll most likely give his account of what happened, followed by a modest, "I was just doing my job."



Also deserving mention are the ferry boat captains who immediately headed for the downed airplane to help passengers to safety.

From The Jersey Journal, photo by Reena Rose Sibyan

One of these captains was Brittany Catanzaro, the youngest New York ferry boat captain ever, and the first woman to have the job.

So many things just came together on Thursday afternoon. Everyone did what needed to be done, and a crew of five kept 150 passengers calm in a scary situation.

I believe, of course, that God and Mother Nature played some part in this, but ultimately, a lot of credit goes to a group of well-trained individuals who came together to pull off an amazing event.

Are they heroes? Perhaps. But I have higher praise to offer. Simply put, they are damned good and getting their jobs done.