Ditching On The Hudson On Tv

[willedoo]

Channel 7 Brisbane is screening 'Air Crash Investigations: Ditching on the Hudson' tonight, April 11th at 7.30pm.

 

Might be worth a look.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Spin]

Cheers Willie, I'll keep an eye out for that, probably one of our best known accidents of the last few years. I'll be interested to see what they have to say as I watched a video recreation the other day which included the CVR audio and it struck me that whilst the aviating aspect of the emergency was first rate, there appeared to be a distinct lack of communication, both with the souls sitting in the back and with ATC. I also have never seen any consideration given to what options were in fact available to the crew eg could they have made Teterboro if they had headed there early enough? Playing devils advocate here, but it would be a pity to overlook the learning opportunities in the midst of all the hero worship.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

great programming by Seven. Hudson on Seven and Ice Pilots on 'Mate'. lucky i have a 2 channel DVR.

 

It was the 35 seconds trying to restart that cost them an alternate airport. Even that doesn't seem like a big window to try and make it over suburbia. They could always make the river. They also pointed out the early startup of the APU to power the flight computer was a big plus. Long emergency check lists are a negative. These will be condensed down.

 

Still a great save made more so by the fact good basic stick and rudder skills are a big factor.

 

 

[Spin]

Agreed, going into the river was always going to be a better option than crashing short in suburbia - although it must be said that they had a huge chunk of luck working their way in terms of conditions and the fact that the river was fairly quiet. I was interested though at the comments about them flying at 20kts below best glide speed and it seemed to be implied that having the APU on and therefore most of the flight control system operational saved them from a potential stall. Why that was, wasn't explained. I guess even twin jet pilots need to have an awareness of where they could land if it all goes quiet:) . The one I always think of is the IFR single in the US that suffered engine failure and glided some ridiculous distance through a mountainous area, before landing safely. A combination of a moving map GPS, radar coverage and a couple of cool heads won the day for them.

 

 

[Coop]

I think various people have tried to make various options work using simulators and with few exceptions all failed. The successful ones came after several attempts and were very marginal. I think they definitely made the right decision...

 

Coop

 

 

[Spin]

Yeah Coop, if the TV program is to be believed they had a number of pilots try it out in the simulator and 50% of them managed a return to La Guardia and a safe landing on their 1st attempt - provided the turn was initiated more or less immediately. As Ozziel pointed out, factor in the 35 second delay while they attempted to relight the fires and that option diminishes to zero. I'm always mindful however that these programs are produced for Joe Public and that 100% accuracy takes a back seat to the entertainment value.

 

 

[Coop]

We can all do better with hindsight....

 

Coop