Must Go
Brace brace brace! Heads down! Stay down!
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1509, bound from New York’s LaGuardia International Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, was hit by a large flock of birds just thirty seconds after takeoff. The bird strike disabled and damaged both of the jet’s engines; and though it managed to keep flight for another three minutes, there was no way it could return to LaGuardia, or make any attempts at an emergency landing at either JFK, Newark, or nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The flight’s captain, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, made the split-second decision to ditch the aircraft in the Hudson River, rather than risk flying into any buildings. Incredibly, the aircraft, though damaged by the bird strikes and the water landing, stayed afloat long enough for rescue personnel to save the lives of all 155 people on that flight, an operation that took only twenty-four minutes in all.
Sully is seen as a hero to the 155 surviving passengers yet placed under scrutiny by the NTSB who question whether he made the proper choice of action. Nobody likes to have their actions judged. Why could they not wait until the engine was recovered? Why did the simulation pilots get advanced notice of the engine failure?
Great performances by Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart (the co-pilot Jeff Skiles). Both the attempted landing and the investigation are certainly compelling viewing.