Plane goes down in the Hudson River
 

Get a load of this:

NEW YORK - A US Airways plane crashed into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after striking a bird that disabled two engines, sending 150 on board scrambling onto rescue boats, authorities say. No deaths or serious injuries were immediately reported.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says the US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte, N.C., when the crash occurred in the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.

Brown says the plane, an Airbus 320, appears to have hit one or more birds.

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Let me ask all of you a question. Do you think some birds BROUGHT DOWN THIS PLANE?

I can see MAYBE, if it was a piper cub or one of those lightweight things.

BUT AN AIRBUS???

BIRDS????

I'd LOVE to hear your comments on this one.

Melody

Do you have any idea what a Canadian Goose weighs? *grin

yes...
 

this happens. Some airports have elaborate ways of keeping the birds away.

They get in the turbines and break the fans off.

http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/birdAirport.asp

It was on our TV news a few minutes after the plane went down, and our TV stations kept crossing back for updates. We could see people getting out onto the wing of the plane, and then onto the ferries.

We were told that the plane flew into a flock of birds, and two engines had smoke coming from them which filled the plane. I daresay that birds got sucked into the engines. They said it occurred about 3 minutes after take off.

So far our news reports say that no-one was killed or seriously injured. Thank the Lord. :smileypray:

I have only one thing to say ( and I have no idea what a Canadian Goose is). lol

We went to the moon, we have the internet, cell phones, instant communications via web email, text, etc.

AND WE CAN'T GET RID OF FREAKIN BIRDS??

Holy Cow.

I shudder what I will think the next time I get on a plane (if I ever do).

The people were laughing and god bless them, they are fine.

It could have been MUCH MUCH WORSE.

Every channel on tv has the plane just sitting in the water.

Never saw such a thing in all my life.

I'm certain that tomorrow morning it will be in every single NY newspaper.

And here's an interesting thing. In my local newspaper this morning, it seems that a Gull attacked a woman eating ice cream. It hit her in the head, it tried to steal her ice cream and the husband had to hit the bird to get it off of his wife.

The bird then had to be euthanized. THIS IS IN TODAY'S NEWSPAPER.

And then birds fly into a plane???

:confused:

Think of a flying turkey. They can weigh up to 20lbs.

The birds get accustomed to the noise of the planes. Very hard to keep them away.

Melody

As a pilot, I can say that without a doubt, birds are the single deadliest airborne danger for a pilot.

The deadliest crash involving a commercial flight and birds was in 1960. It was an Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-188 Electra and a flock of starlings. The flight departed Boston and flew into a flock of starlings. All four engines suffered catastrophic damage and the plane went down killing 62 people aboard, 9 people survived.

Geese have been a problem around airports for a long time. Airports and airlines spend millions of dollars every year trying to figure out how to keep birds from congregating around airports. Airplane manufacturers spend millions and millions of dollars on maintenance every year repairing damage done by engines that have ingested birds.

A friend of ours was killed by a turkey buzzard that went through the cockpit of his T-2 (a Navy trainer) at 10,000' . No one ever thought they would see a turkey buzzard that high in the air.

So yes, Melody, a bird ingested in the engine of an commercial airliner at a low altitude can cause it to have to make an emergency landing.

Be thankful the crew knew exactly what happened and did everything right and saved all those people!

Thanks for that background info Cheryl. I have heard of the bird danger before but never realised quite how serious it is

I had the TV on in the background while working today so became aware of this as soon as CNN did....

Bravo to that pilot for avoiding what could have been a horrible disaster!

I do pray for all who were on board as that must have been a very traumatizing experience. Nevermind for their anxious family and friends:grouphug:
There must also have been people in buildings etc around the area who freaked at seeing a plane that low

I am just so thankful for a good ending to the drama

Yep..sucking birds (or anything) into the intake of a jet engine can cause serious damage. I remember being on the flight deck of a carrier back in the day when something got into the intake of one of our helos. Quite a light show it caused.

That's why we had to do FOD (Foreign Object Damage) walk-downs twice a day and pick up anything that wasn't bolted down.

The Portland International Airport uses propane cannons and green lasers to drive away and deter birds. The green lasers don't harm the birds. It just confuses them because the birds think that they're about to hit something.

At least, that's how I understand it.

I saw photos of this on our news earlier. I had the tv off all day today while trying to figure out my internet connection. It was absolutely shocking. Lineups showing people on the wings even. In freezing temps.!

Birds can be a problem in airports in all parts of the world. They have been here in airports in Australia in the past.

Laser pointers too sadly. :( We've had some weirdos pointing laser lights at incoming aircraft here in Australia. True story. There was some weirdo pointing a laser light at a South African Cricket Team member here during a cricket game this week so he wouldn't catch the ball. It disgusts me that some australian citizen would do such a shocking thing. It was cricket!!!

I was actually horrified at the images shown. I felt their fear and I'm so thankful that it turned out the way it did eventually. <sigh>

I keep thinking about all the people dying in places on this earth though where airplanes are not involved. Just hatred. It makes me so sad I cry. I cry for all the innocent children and all the innocent families who just happen to live where there is a war between other people. *tear

I think it is really
 

lucky that the plane floated as it did.

There was coverage last night on CNN that said the reason the
plane floated was that it was full of fuel, and that is less dense
than water, and kept it up and prevented the sinking.

The pilot was just fabulous the way he brought it down and handled the situation.
(there was a long interview with a passenger who helped people out the exits, and he described in detail what the landing in the water was like).

A miracle really!
We had a similar crash in the 80s of a Northwestern plane as it took off from our Metro area. It came down on a freeway and all were killed except for an infant! The rubble trail was horrible...That could have happened to the NY plane.
Those people were so lucky!

the pilot and crew and rescue workers all earn those special wings we all seek, job well done

like someone said on other thread lucky they didnt open the BACK door, can we say sink like a rock

you know...
 

this is a bit of related trivia:

The eagle thread we have here? That is pretty popular with some posters?

The female eagle we watch at Norfolk Botanical Gardens had a first mate about 4-5 yrs ago. They are close to a military base, and she and her first mate had a nest there. He was hit by a jet and killed.

So she moved over to the Gardens and took a new mate.
In fact the DNR cut down the tree they used near the base for their nest to encourage the eagles to move away from the planes. And that worked as the birds now nest more safely.

So that is a bit of trivia about birds/planes that we have seen already from another point of view...the birds' point of view.

Cheryl:

I had absolutely no idea how dangerous birds were to engines. I was reading my local newspaper this morning and there were articles explaining air disasters in the past (having to do with birds getting sucked into the engines).

I really got quite a history lesson.

No more funny jokes by me on this subject. It's very serious.

And yesterday afternoon, when Alan said to me "they are talking about the plane on tv". And I said "what plane?" and he said "what are you talking about WHAT PLANE?, it's all over the tv". I said: "I have no idea what you are talking about".

See, I hadn't been watching tv at all and had no knowledge of what was going on. I then turned on the tv and HOLY COW, there, in the Hudson River, was this PLANE!!!

Then I watched as it floated on by. Now it's tethered to the dock and there is a crane and the experts are trying to figure out how to hoist it into the air.

So yesterday, when I heard that a plane went down in the river, all I could think of was THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE DOWNSTAIRS FROM ME (THE OLD ITALIAN COUPLE), were flying back from Arizona.

So what do I think? That they are on THAT plane that is in the river.

I said "Alan, the people downstairs are not home yet, (this was 9 p.m. last night). He said "do you think they were on the plane?" I said 'I have no idea, but where are they?"

Then he said "the plane was leaving LaGuardian and going to North Carolina".

I said "Oh, they are coming home from Arizona".

They came home at midnight and I was in their apartment at 8:30 this morning hearing all about the commotion at the airport.

These are two 82 year old people who got scared out of their mind when they saw all the police and rescue teams. They witnessed the whole thing.

Holy Cow!!!

One never knows.

I am kissing the ground and staying on it!!!

Melody