Reconsidering the Miracle on the Hudson

Just someone taking a diffrent spin to make money. Trying to take away some of the glory that went with the skill of the two pilots. About the pay they get, airline pilots dont make that much overall due to the call outs they get among other things. Time makes pilots and flying diffrent types of equipment just like race car drivers, those who do well come up driving many diffrent types of cars in many diffrent types of events. The same with good pilots, those who fly things other than large aircraft obtain skills that you cannot flying one style or type of aircraft.

I grew up reading William's articles in "Flying" magazine and I'm glad to see he's still telling it like it is. I often think about how things may have ended up tragically if the weather wasn't cavok or the power loss occurred much lower.

Funny he touches on the fact that Airbus was/is "peeved" by not having their aircraft complimented by either pilot. I watched that plane go into the river and spent several days with it lashed to the pierface outside my office. Frankly, I remember quite of bit of praise being lavished on the Airbus and its "ditch switch" enabling the plane to stay afloat as long as it did.

Langewiesche comes off to me at least as somebody who has not done his homework.

I resent what this "author-pilot" is saying, it is an insult to Capt. Sullenberg. How in the hell this "author-pilot" can claim that it was the computers on the 320 invented by Mr. Ziegler of Airbus that made all the right inputs at the right time as to wings level, nose a bit high, speed control, in short everything implying that all that Sully and his copilot did was just watch the events unfold before them "hands free" I'd assume. Boo to you, Sully took full manual control right after the birds killed the engines.

It was my understanding that the engine actually survived OK. It was the sensors in the airbus systems, that shutdown the engines. Then Sully had to take over and show his recovery skill. This has happened many times before in the airbus, including there inaugaral flight. It likely a Boeing would have kept flying. I've taken many flights in the Airbus. I don't like it because of its track record, but don't have much choice. I would prefer a Boeing anytime.

"I don't know if there's a genuine demand in the public [for heroes], or if it's a creation of headline writers and television people."

I think we all know the answer to that one... the outpouring of public affection for the captain and crew of that flight says it all.. We need good-news stories and stories of people who take things into their own hands to do good. Not sure why this is being discussed nearly two years later though. OT: Long ago I read his father Wolfgang's book, Stick and Rudder, which gets to the root of how airplanes actually fly and can still remember some of its lessons, though I am not a pilot.