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US Airways A320 is down!


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One of the US Airways A320s has crash landed in a river in New York, The swedish television says that the A320 got a bird in it's engine, shortly after the bird strike engine 2 failed and the plane made a slow landing in the water, a ferry that was close by got the crash site and throwed life jackets in the water, there are no reports about any losses now.

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All on board reported to be safely on dry land...

The media so far seemed to have missed the fact that it will have taken some very quick thinking and skilled piloting to get that thing down in the River Hudson and allow all to get off safely.

I'm yet unclear as to which LGA runway the Airbus took off from...

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Dumb Things I Heard On Television Over This...

(mainly in the form of questions from the media.)

 

1) Why don't the airports do anything about the birds?

The bird strikes and engine failures occurred between one and three minutes after takeoff, depending upon who you believe. I'm not sure just how far from the airport they'd have been by then. Can you imagine what people would have to say if the airport folks started to visit the local parks and neighborhoods to harass birds?

 

2 - Aren't the engines tested when the plane is built to assure that birds won't damage them?

Yes, but not with Canadian Geese, which can weigh 12 pounds or more.

 

3 - Can't they put a screen in front of the engines that would allow air in, but keep birds out?

Can you see that in icing conditions? I wonder what kind of screen would be needed to withstand a 12 pound bird (or two, or three...) at, say 200 knots. In this case, the screens probably would have been fouled (fowled?) with bird carcasses and the engines would have lost power anyway. :faint:

 

Did the plane float because the fuel tanks were full of kerosene, which is lighter than water?

Sure, but air is lighter yet. It might have floated better yet if the tanks were less full. The plane floated because the pilots managed to put it down without breaking it apart.

 

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On a postive note, I do have to grudgingly give the media some credit. I never heard the term "nose dive" used in any of the media coverage I saw - a first.

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This is a miraculous outcome. The pilots deserve full credit for saving the day. I hope the NTSB doesn't charge the cause of the crash to pilot error as they usually do. They will dig until they find some detail of a check list that was not performed by the book and that will be included in the report, without a doubt. None the less, these guys are heroes and I don't think even the NTSB can take much of the shine off that. I wonder if Sully would consider running for president next time around?

 

The US has not had a fatal crash by a major carrier in over two years - the last was the wrong runway takeoff at Lexington, Kentucky. This could have had a very different outcome if things had not gone so perfectly and that record might have ended.

 

John

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  • 3 weeks later...

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