US Airways Flight 1549 Hudson river splashdown

The way I wrote the title almost made it sound like a party.

Yesterday, (January 15th in the US) a US Airways flight bearing the registration N106US crash-landed into the Hudson river in New York. Coastguard crash video before.



Approximately around the 2:00 mark, you are able to see the splashdown of the plane. At 2:40 you are able to see passengers scrambling (in a relatively organized manner) on to the wing and on to emergency inflatable slides.

As this is happening, the plane is slowly drifting with the river's current. Local ferries were quick to respond and immediately went towards the downed plane to rescue any survivors.

Around the 6 minute mark, as the plane was drifting towards the incoming ferry seemingly about to crash into each other, the ferry captain carefully maneuvered the ferry backwards to match the drifting speed of the aircraft.

At this time, moe ferries came around the left side of the plane and began collecting people who were standing on the left side wing of the plane.

All the while, the plane was sinking at a rapid pace. This incident would have been more disastrous if it water-landed anywhere else that is far from civilization.

Ultimately, the assistance provided by local ferries proved vital in making this incident go without any loss to life. Great job ferrymen!

Notice at about 3:12, a person slipped off the tip of the right wing. Thankfully, someone else helped this person up.

The flight's captain was Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, of Danville, California, a former United States Air Force captain who once served as a fighter pilot and flew F-4 Phantom II's from 1973 to 1980.

He was awarded the key to the city for his commendable and heroic actions in managing to water-land a plane safely.

The cause of the crash is due to multiple bird strikes causing both engines to flame-out. The aircraft flown was an Airbus A320 powered by CFM-56 engines. All 155 on board survived.

Trivia:

This is the 2nd water-landing that didn't have any fatalities. The first was back in 1968, on Japan Airlines Flight 2 piloted by Captain Kohei Asoh. When asked about the cause of the crash, he humbly replied, "As you Americans say, I fucked up."

He took full responsibility for the accident and refused to blame anyone else or any other circumstances. Back in Japan, Aso was sent to retrain as a co-pilot. Such a frank acceptance of blame has come to be known as the "Asoh Defense".