The Miracle on the Hudson is a true story. The real story of the heroic rescue of people: the miracle on the Hudson. Mooring from the sky

Modern civil aviation is one of the safest modes of transport. Multiple duplication of various systems makes it possible to reduce the risk of disaster to a minimum.

And yet it is completely impossible to avoid emergency situations. One of the most dangerous of them is considered a forced landing on water.

Aviation experts are convinced that if there is even one chance to avoid this, it should be taken. Because even landing a plane “on its belly” at the airport leaves a much greater chance of survival for passengers and crew members than splashdown.

World aviation knows only a little more than a dozen controlled forced landings of passenger airliners on water. Most of them did not do without casualties on board.

On August 21, 1963, the crew of the Soviet Tu-124 airliner, flying from Tallinn to Moscow, made an emergency landing in Leningrad, directly on the surface of the Neva. Commander of the liner Victor Mostovoy managed to do the incredible - avoiding a collision with numerous bridges, he splashed down the plane so that all passengers and crew members survived.

Almost 46 years later, an American pilot found himself in Mostovoy’s place Chesley Sullenberger.

"Top class pilot"

In the year that Viktor Mostovoy performed the “miracle on the Neva,” the 12-year-old son of a Texas dentist, Chesley Sullenberger, became a member of the high-IQ Mensa society.

My passion for aviation came later, at the age of 16. Chesley entered a private flying club, where he realized that being a pilot was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

In 1969, the US Air Force Academy recruited 18-year-old cadet Sullenberger, who collected all possible awards and encouragement, graduating with the qualification of a “top flyer”.

After seven years of military service, he switched to civil aviation. A specialist with military experience and a high IQ was brought in to investigate plane crashes.

Much later, the pilot founded the company Safety Reliability Methods, which provides advice on safety precautions in air transport.

But the main thing for Chesley Sullenberger was flying. For three decades, he piloted civilian aircraft for US Airways, delivering passengers safely to their destinations.

Chesley Sullenberger. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Particularly dangerous geese

He was to operate flight AWE 1549 on the route New York - Charlotte - Seattle. Departure from New York was scheduled for 15:20 local time.

The flight was carried out on an Airbus A320. The plane did not cause any concern - it was produced in 1999, regularly underwent scheduled maintenance and did not cause any complaints.

Sullenberger's co-pilot that day was a 49-year-old Geoffrey Skiles. He had 23 years of experience at US Airways, but the pilot was about to fly the A320 for the second time in his life.

A total of 150 passengers boarded the plane. In addition to two pilots, the crew included three flight attendants.

At 15:24 the plane took off from New York airport. And almost immediately an emergency happened.

As a rule, all airports have bird repellent systems. This is necessary to prevent birds from colliding with airplanes, which poses a serious danger to flights.

But on this day, not just one stray bird, but a whole flock of geese got in the way of the Airbus A320. The meeting took place just 90 seconds after takeoff. The plane could not evade them, and a moment later there were dull blows, which were also heard by the passengers in the cabin.

For modern airliners, the failure of one engine is not fatal - the plane can fly to its destination on just one.

But on this day the geese hit both engines, which failed. Passengers heard a loud bang and smelled smoke; some could see fire through the windows of the windows.

Hudson River. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"We're landing on the water"

Sullenberger reported to the ground: there was an emergency on board, both engines were disabled, an emergency landing was required.

The situation was almost hopeless: the engine thrust was rapidly decreasing, there was no headroom, since the A320 only managed to rise to 975 meters, and the metropolis stretched below.

Ground controllers noted that the aircraft commander remained absolutely calm. He initially announced he would return to New York airport, then said he would land at nearby Teterboro Airport. After this the connection was interrupted.

The pilots realized that they would not get to the airport - they only had a few seconds left in the air. Turning the plane south, they flew the A320 over the Hudson River. The George Washington Bridge rose in front of them, but just as the Tu-124 pilots once managed to avoid a collision with Leningrad bridges, the Americans managed to avoid one of the New York landmarks.

There was no choice - Chesley Sullenberger decided to land the plane on the water. Confused and not really understanding what was happening, the passengers heard the commander’s voice over the loudspeaker: “Get ready for impact! We land on the water."

Airplane wreckage. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The commander is the last to leave

Those who were on the nearby streets experienced no less shock - the descending plane brought to mind the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The Airbus A320 touched the surface of the water, raising a cloud of spray that hid it for several seconds. From the outside it seemed that the plane had collapsed or sank to the bottom, but then everyone saw that the airliner remained on the surface.

The crew managed to prevent a disaster, but this was not yet salvation - the plane could not stay on the water for long. There were life jackets on board, but it was impossible to jump into the water - it was January, and swimming in the Hudson threatened people with a repeat of the fate of the Titanic passengers, many of whom did not drown, but died from hypothermia in the icy water.

The A320 gradually sank, and its passengers climbed onto the planes of the wings and the roof. At this time, police officers, coast guards, rescuers and simply caring people who had watercraft rushed to the plane to provide assistance to those in distress.

The evacuation was carried out quickly. Chesley Sullenberger, as befits the captain of the ship, was the last to leave, walking around the salon and making sure that no one was left on board.

As a result of the emergency, 83 people were injured, most of whom received mild frostbite, and only five were seriously injured during landing.

This outcome of this situation rightfully allowed us to call it the “miracle on the Hudson.”

Chesley Sullenberger walks around the cabin of that same plane. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Hanks as a hero, hero as Hanks

The plane was towed to a pier near the World Financial Center, where it was removed from the water.

The A320 never took to the skies again. It was acquired by the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte (the airliner was supposed to fly to this city during its fateful flight). Now the plane is one of the most popular exhibits.

And Chesley Sullenberger turned into a real “hero of the nation”, a participant in numerous talk shows. True, there were those who believed that the plane could have been landed in another way, and the pilot exposed people to unjustified risk.

However, the investigation came to the conclusion that the pilot’s actions were the only correct ones.

Seven years later, the film “Miracle on the Hudson” was released on world screens, in which he played the main role Tom Hanks.

65-year-old Chesley Sullenberger responded to this quite unexpectedly - on a television show Jimmy Kimmel the pilot played...Tom Hanks. Or rather, he made parodies of all the famous roles of the actor from Forrest Gump to astronaut James Lovell from Apollo 13.

Tom Hanks, who also participated in the show, watched the skits and remarked: “Chesley Sullenberger, I respected you so much. Now we both have dark spots in our careers.”

On a frosty day in January 2009, a US Airways plane took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport somewhere in North Carolina. Two minutes after takeoff, a flock of geese plowed into it, knocking out both engines. A few minutes later, crew commander Chesley Sullenberger, whom everyone naturally called Sully (Tom Hanks), and co-pilot Skyles (Aaron Eckhart) landed the airbus in the middle of the Hudson River, directly across from Manhattan. None of the 150 passengers were killed; one flight attendant injured her leg.

Eastwood, based in particular on the quickly released , reconstructs the recent amazing story with maximum accuracy. The country carries Sally in its arms, his portraits are on all the front pages, Obama invites him to the inauguration (this is no longer in the film). Meanwhile, a professional drama, invisible to the world, but central to a film that needs conflict, is developing: a commission from the aviation department is trying to find out whether it would have been easier to land the plane less spectacularly, at one of the nearest airports, and seems to be inclined to believe that yes, easier.

Russian trailer "Miracle on the Hudson"

The “Miracle on the Hudson,” like any miracle, first of all arouses skepticism. Old Eastwood once again explores the nature of American heroism, Tom Hanks once again plays an American hero, and it all looks like the movie “Crew” (with Denzel Washington, not ours) minus vodka and cocaine (that is, the most interesting thing).

And indeed, in some places the picture may seem bland or even cloying. The nerve of Sniper, Eastwood's previous work, with which it is difficult to avoid comparison, was due to the fact that the hero killed 150 people - an achievement that is still not in dispute. Sally saved 150 people: what is there to talk about? Even if the plane could be landed the traditional way, who really cares except the airline - the winners are not judged. The fight between the good and the best, a brush mustache that makes the two main characters (especially Eckhart) look like good-natured dogs, telephone conversations with his beloved wife (Laura Linney), applause in pubs, hugs from strangers, broadcast on Letterman, and so on.

But this is nothing more than an event outline, which Eastwood sets out with the strict straightforwardness characteristic of him in recent years. What actually happens on the screen, on the contrary, is the debunking of heroism or, more precisely, the romantic myth about it. There was no miracle, Eastwood claims. The triumphant three minutes was only possible because Sullenberger had 40 years of flying experience beforehand. Already in the river, people did not die from hypothermia, because there was a ferry nearby and rescuers worked quickly. The co-pilot did something, the dispatcher did something, the flight attendants did something, and the passengers themselves did something. In other words, landing an Airbus on water is no feat; It's a feat to put on pants every morning, go to work and try to do it well.

This simple thought is exactly what haunts Sullenberger all the way while he is rocked by the crowd, and perhaps this is what Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks are thinking about when receiving their next Oscar. Both, professionals to the core, perform here in a distinctly discreet, almost dry manner. Hanks, who has already played everything, it seems, facets of human dignity, again finds some unique nuances in a character that is positive to the point of gnashing of teeth. Eastwood seems passive in conversational scenes, but when it comes to the main number, the disaster itself, the director's composure works wonders - even not in IMAX, these scenes give you goosebumps. Miracle on the Hudson, with its allusions to 9/11 and the 2008 crisis, is a paean to New York and, of course, a tribute to Chesley Sullenberger, but at its heart it is a deeply unpretentious film - and that is what makes it so compelling. It is not necessary to clap for the pilot, he says, when landing. And not necessarily the pilot.

57-year-old American pilot, former military pilot Chesley Sullenberger saved one and a half hundred lives in a few seconds.

After both engines failed due to a bird strike, he landed.

Pavement between bridges

All passengers and crew survived. By the way, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration, from 1990 to 2007, 80 thousand cases of bird collisions with passenger aircraft were recorded in the country. Birds pose a potential threat to approximately one in 10 thousand flights.

But there was a similar case in the USSR. On August 21, 1963, in Leningrad, the world's first successful splashdown was made by an airplane flying from Tallinn to Moscow. Already during takeoff at Tallinn airport, the commander of the Tu-124, Viktor Mostovoy, discovered that the landing gear had jammed.

The commander reported the problem to dispatchers. However, due to thickening fog, an emergency landing in Tallinn was prohibited. Mostovoy was asked to land the car on a spare dirt runway at the Pulkovo airfield in Leningrad, recalls Honored Pilot of the USSR Vladimir Dmitriev.

The plane circled over the city, running out of up to a ton of fuel. On the seventh lap, the flight mechanic reported to Mostovoy that there was more fuel remaining than required according to the instructions. “I’m going one more circle,” the commander reported to the ground. He had no idea that the plane's fuel gauges were faulty. When there were 21 km left to the airport, the fuel supply was exhausted: the left engine of the plane stopped.

To reduce the distance to the airfield, the crew decided to fly over the historical center of the city. However, the second engine also failed over Smolny. Fortunately, the Neva was below,” says Dmitriev. “Vitya, get on the water,” shouted Vasily Chechenov, the co-pilot, a former hydropilot.

The plane flew a couple of meters above the Alexander Nevsky Bridge, which was still under construction at that time. Workers standing on metal structures fell into the water in horror. A few tens of meters from the Finland Bridge, the plane plopped into the river.

During landing, the Tu-124 received a hole and almost immediately began to take on water. Only thanks to the actions of Yuri Porshin, the captain of the tug, who hooked a metal cable to the pilots’ wheel and towed the plane to the shore, it did not sink at a depth of 13 meters. It was “moored” to the pier of the Northern Press plant so that one of the wings lay on land, forming a gangway. The aircraft commander was the last to land. He was very calm, but completely gray.

Reward or punish? - this question arose before the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet of the USSR immediately after the accident.

Mostovoy was expelled from the air squad for sloppiness. Allegedly, it was his fault that the Tu-124 first almost crashed into the center of Leningrad, and then almost sank,” continues Vladimir Dmitriev. - Only after the scandal reached the Central Committee of the CPSU, and the heroism of the pilot became known in the West, Mostovoy was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and his crew members were awarded medals.

The plane landed on the plane

But splashdown is not the most exotic landing option. So, on July 8, 2005, a 55-year-old Porsche driver decided to use the runway at the German Bitburg airport to enjoy the speed of his car. Strangely enough, there was permission from the airport management. Therefore, the driver calmly rushed along the strip at a speed of 160 km/h. Suddenly, a light aircraft began to land directly on the roof of the Porsche. The driver braked sharply, causing the plane to slide off the roof and fall to the ground. The 58-year-old pilot was not injured, but his wings were broken. The police later established that it was the pilot who was responsible for the accident: he did not request permission to land. But the most curious thing: they had to prepare a special report to the Porsche insurance company, where they refused to believe that a plane tried to land on their client’s car.

And in Florida they still remember how the pilot of a single-engine Piper Cheruka tried to make an emergency landing on a highway near the city of Dundin. After hitting the road, the plane bounced several times, threw two trucks aside and landed on the roof of a third. The pilot and driver escaped with minor bruises, and several people at the “landing” site were severely frightened.

However, other “landing sites” compete equally with car roofs. For example, in 2001 in the UK, a light plane landed directly on a residential building. After the engine failure, the pilot had an alternative: to sit on the railroad tracks or on the roof of a house. And in October 2008, a sports plane landed directly on the roof of an Austrian police building. And again there were no casualties.

But perhaps the most amazing landing occurred last year in the US state of Texas: when one plane landed directly on another. At the airport, which is located near Dallas, the dispatcher informed the pilot of the landing plane that the runway was clear and gave permission to land. At this time, another airliner pulled out from the taxiway. The accident could not be avoided. Both cars suffered serious damage, but the pilots were not injured.

Meanwhile

According to Valery Shelkovnikov, board member of the World Flight Safety Foundation, approach and landing are the most difficult stages of a flight. Long-term statistics show: annually for this reason, an average of 17 aircraft accidents occur in the world.

other unique plantings

Tu-134 of the State Research Institute of Civil Aviation performed test flights from Sheremetyevo airfield. During landing, two engines failed simultaneously. The commander landed the plane on the water surface of the Moscow Canal. No harm done.

A Boeing 727-230 of a Greek airline was flying from Athens to Thessaloniki. The plane was piloted by experienced pilots. The weather at the destination airport was extremely difficult: thunderstorm, gusts of wind, heavy clouds. The plane flew over the first third of the runway, and as a result, upon landing, it rolled off the runway, its nose hanging over the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. But the crew and passengers - 35 people - remained alive.

The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-260ER was flying from Addis Ababa to Abidjan. Shortly after entering Kenyan airspace, three terrorists hijacked the plane and demanded it fly to Australia. But on the way to the Comoros, the plane ran out of fuel and the engines stopped. The pilots tried to land in shallow water 500 meters from the beach, but the left engine and the edge of the wing hit the water and the car was destroyed. Of the 175 people on board, 50 were saved.

The Philippine Airlines A320-214 was flying from Manila to Bacolod. During landing, the plane drifted to the right side of the runway. He rammed the airport fence and stopped in a small river. None of the 130 people on board were injured.

This event will certainly go down in aviation history; it will teach young American pilots and test the knowledge of current flight personnel.

As it should be in Hollywood films, this story has a main character - a former military pilot, 57-year-old pilot Chesley Sullenberger, nicknamed Sully. And a worthy happy ending - after the plane he was flying landed on the water, all 150 passengers were saved.

Moreover, the pilot was the last to leave the board, as befits a sea captain. He inspected the plane twice to make sure once again that people had left the sinking airship.

The American media reproduced the chronicle of the flight incident. At 15:26 local time, the Airbus A-320 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. But he didn’t have time to reach the desired altitude. Having risen to approximately 800 meters, 30-45 seconds after takeoff, the pilot reported an emergency situation - a collision of the plane with at least two birds. Passengers will learn about this later - already on the ground. Those who were in the cabin, crushed by seat belts, looking out the windows with curiosity, described what happened in the same way - “something loudly knocked, the plane staggered, and a burning smell appeared.”

It’s hard to imagine what people experienced when they realized that the plane taking off began to suddenly lose altitude. Everyone understood that something was happening and it was not turbulence. Some passengers sitting closer to the rear saw flames escaping from the engines and starting to smoke. It became unusually quiet. The words “fasten your seat belts” continued to light up on the board. At this critical moment, the pilot reported an upcoming landing on water. The pilot warned passengers of a possible "strong impact."

What happened in the cockpit became known from the transcript of the recordings of Sally’s conversations with the control tower. The crew initially requested to land at the departure airport. However, it quickly became clear that a return was impossible. Then it was decided to reach the nearest runway in the state of New Jersey, neighboring New York. But after about three minutes of flight, the pilot transmitted to the ground that he would not be able to keep the car in the air. Then the idea arose to land the plane on the only open area of suitable size - in a park located along the route of the plane. But the control center found out that the risk was too great, since repair work was underway in the park. The last chance to save the passengers was to land on water in the Hudson River, separating Manhattan from New Jersey. This decision was forced and, according to experts, very difficult.

“The huge difficulty is that the airbus that Sally piloted has engines located under the wings. When landing on water, he had to make sure that the engines did not touch the water. Otherwise, the airliner would simply bury its nose in the water. Therefore, the pilot had to do “everything to glide along the surface of the water for as long as possible, keeping the nose of the plane above the surface,” professional pilots explain the intricacies of landing in the Hudson.

Another serious danger was posed by ships that the Airbus could collide with. Low water temperatures - currently minus five degrees in the Hudson - and strong currents made the situation worse. It is not surprising that, upon learning of the successful landing, New York State Governor David Paterson angrily called the incident a “miracle over the Hudson.”

However, there is one detail that Americans hardly remember today. About the panic that arose in Manhattan when people saw the airliner falling onto the skyscrapers. About the rumors that appeared in the first hours after the disaster about a possible “Arab trace” in this incident. However, the authorities reacted quickly, informing the population that terrorists had nothing to do with this case.

Everything further is well known. Passengers climbed onto the wing of the plane while waiting for rescuers. Five people who sought medical help were taken to hospitals. According to Lorrie, the wife of pilot Sullenberger, he called her when it was all over and briefly said: “There was an accident. But it’s all over.”

Mooring from the sky

On August 21, 1963, in Leningrad, the world's first successful splashdown was made by a Soviet aircraft en route from Tallinn to Moscow..

Already during takeoff at Tallinn airport, the commander of the Tu-124 ship, Viktor Mostovoy, discovered that the front landing gear was jammed in a half-retracted position.

Mostovoy radioed about the problem to dispatchers. However, due to thickening fog, an emergency landing in Tallinn was prohibited. Mostovoy was asked to land the car on a spare dirt runway at the Pulkovo airfield in Leningrad, recalls Honored Pilot of the USSR Vladimir Dmitriev. - While firefighters and doctors were gathering at the site of the supposed landing of the emergency airliner, the plane was circling over the city at an altitude of 400 meters, running out of fuel reserves of up to one ton. Mostovoy received this order from the flight director of Pulkovo Airport, Georgy Narbut. Each lap took 15 minutes.

On the seventh lap, the flight mechanic reported to Mostovoy about the fuel supply, which remained in excess of what was required according to the instructions. And landing in violation of the rules with a reserve of at least 1200-1300 kilograms of fuel threatened the passengers with death. “I’m going for one more circle,” the ship’s commander radioed to the ground. He had no idea that the plane's fuel gauges were faulty. When there were 21 kilometers left to the airport, the fuel supply was exhausted: the left engine of the plane stopped.

To reduce the distance to the airfield, the crew decided to fly over the historical center of the city. However, flying over the “headquarters of the revolution” - Smolny, the second engine also failed. Fortunately, the Neva was below,” says Dmitriev. “Vitya, get on the water,” Vasily Chechenov, the co-pilot, a former hydropilot, shouted to his comrade.

And then Mostovoy made the only correct decision in the current situation: to land the plane on the surface of the water - between the Bolsheokhtinsky and Finlyandsky bridges. To avoid panic, the ship's 27-year-old commander ordered crew members to distract passengers with conversations. While Mostovoi was gliding over the water surface in a heavy car without fuel, the stewards told passengers about the weather in the city on the Neva.

The plane flew a couple of meters above the Alexander Nevsky Bridge, which was still under construction at that time. The workers standing on complex metal structures then fell into the water in horror, recalls Nadezhda Stepankova, an eyewitness to the events. - A few tens of meters from the Finland Bridge, the plane plopped into the river.

The passengers were happy. But their joy was premature. During landing, the Tu-124 received a significant hole and almost immediately began to take on water. Only thanks to the actions of Yuri Porshin, the captain of the tug, who hooked a metal cable to the pilots’ wheel and towed the aircraft to the shore, the plane did not sink to a depth of 13 meters.

It was “moored” to the pier of the Severny Press plant in such a way that one of the wings lay on land, forming a gangway, Stepankova recalls. - Passengers with children came out first, followed by women, men with things and the crew. The aircraft commander was the last to land. He was very calm, but completely gray.

Reward or punish? - this question arose before the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet of the USSR immediately after the accident.

Viktor Mostovoy was expelled from the Tallinn air squad, as they said, for sloppiness. Allegedly, through his fault, the Tu-124 with passengers on board first almost crashed into the historical center of the city, and then almost sank,” continues Vladimir Dmitriev. - Only after the scandal reached the Central Committee of the CPSU, and the heroism of the pilot became known in the West, Mostovoy was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and his crew members were awarded medals.

DOSSIER "RG"

The most amazing landings

July 17, 1972. Moscow. The Tu-134 aircraft of the State Research Institute of Civil Aviation performed test flights from the Sheremetyevo airfield. During landing, two engines failed simultaneously. The commander landed the aircraft on the water surface of the canal. Moscow. No harm done.

August 12, 1997. Thessaloniki. The Boeing 727-230 aircraft of the Greek airline Olympic Airways was operating a local passenger flight from Athens to Thessaloniki. The plane was piloted by very experienced pilots (both captains of aircraft taken from other flights for this flight). The weather at the destination airport was extremely difficult: thunderstorm, wind gusts at the ground up to 28 knots, heavy clouds, and rain. The plane landed with a significant overshoot: having flown over the first third of the runway, it rolled off the runway. The nose of the plane hovered over the Mediterranean coastline. The plane suffered significant damage. The crew and passengers - 35 people - survived.

November 23, 1996. Comoros Islands. The Boeing 767-260ER aircraft of the Ethiopian airline Ethiopian Airlines was operating an international passenger flight from Addis Ababa and was heading to Abidjan. Shortly after entering Kenyan airspace, three terrorists hijacked the plane and demanded it fly to Australia. On approach to the Comoros, the plane ran out of fuel and the engines stopped. The pilots attempted a controlled landing on the water in closed shallow water 500 meters from Le Galava beach. However, the left engine and wingtip hit the water and the aircraft was destroyed. Of the 175 people on board, 125 died.

March 22, 1998. Philippines. Philippine Airlines' newest A320-214 aircraft was operating a local passenger flight from Manila Airport to Bacolod Airport. The plane took off with the first engine's reverse thrust deactivated. The flight went well. But during landing, due to asymmetric thrust, the plane drifted onto the right side of the runway. The plane collided with the airport fence and stopped in a small river. Luckily, none of the 130 people on board were injured. The plane could not be restored.

, Saint Petersburg

Both engines

Coordinates 40°46′10″ n. w. 74°00′17″ W d. HGIOL

A320 emergency landing on the Hudson- an air accident that occurred on January 15, 2009. The US Airways Airbus A320-214 was operating scheduled flight AWE 1549 (call sign - Cactus 1549) on the New York-Charlotte-Seattle route, but just 1.5 minutes after takeoff it collided with a flock of Canada geese and both engines failed. The crew landed the plane safely on the waters of the Hudson River in New York. All 155 people on board (150 passengers and 5 crew members) survived, 83 people were injured - 5 serious (one flight attendant was the most injured) and 78 minor.

In total, 11 cases of controlled forced landings of passenger airliners on water are known; this case is the sixth without casualties (after flights Pan American-006, Northwest Airlines-293 and Japan Air Lines-002, as well as Tu-124 USSR-45021 and Tu-134 USSR-65607).

Airplane [ | ]

Airbus A320-214 (registration number N106US, serial 1044) was released in 1999 (first flight made on June 15 under the test license plate F-WWII). On August 2 of the same year, it was transferred to US Airways and received tail number N106US. In the early 2000s, he flew for its subsidiary US Airways - . Equipped with two CFM International 56-5B4/P bypass turbofan engines. On the day of the incident, he completed 16,299 takeoff-landing cycles and flew 25,241 hours.

Crew [ | ]

The plane was flown by an experienced crew, its composition was as follows:

Three flight attendants worked in the aircraft cabin:

Chronology of events[ | ]

Flight AWE 1549 departed New York at 3:24 pm EST. 90 seconds after takeoff (at 15:25:30), the voice recorder recorded the PIC’s remark regarding birds being hit. A second later, the sounds of impacts and the rapid fading of the sound of both engines were recorded.

The plane managed to gain an altitude of 975 meters before colliding with the geese. The PIC issued a distress signal and informed the dispatcher that the aircraft had collided with a flock of birds, as a result of which both engines were disabled. The loss of thrust from both engines was confirmed by preliminary analysis of both flight recorder recordings.

The pilots managed to turn the plane, which was taking off north, to the south, glide over the Hudson River without hitting the George Washington Bridge, and splash down the plane opposite 48th Street in Manhattan without destroying the heavy, fueled plane. He finally stopped opposite 42nd Street. In total, the plane stayed in the air (from takeoff to splashdown) for about 7 minutes.

After splashdown, the plane remained on the surface of the water, and passengers went out onto both wing planes through both emergency exits. All passengers on board were rescued by ferries and boats, which approached the splashed-down plane a few minutes later (near the splashdown site there was one of the ferry crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey).

Operation to rescue passengers and crew of flight 1549

78 people received medical treatment for minor injuries and hypothermia (the water temperature was quite low, various media reported figures from “near zero” to sometimes negative water temperatures).

Victims [ | ]

At the time of splashdown, 78 passengers received injuries of varying severity that did not pose a threat to life. Almost all suffered from hypothermia. The most serious injury was suffered by flight attendant Doreen Welsh (a deep leg wound). 24 passengers and two rescue workers were taken to local hospitals, but most were released the same day. One of the passengers suffered eye damage from spilled jet fuel and was forced to wear glasses.

After the incident, all passengers received compensation for lost luggage in the amount of 5,000, and those who were able to prove a larger loss received additional compensation. Later, those on board at the time of the accident received an additional $10,000 for refusing further claims against US Airways.

Aircraft damage[ | ]

Canada goose feather found in engine #1

As a result of the landing, as well as rescue and towing operations, the aircraft's airframe received significant damage. Organic remains and a bird feather were found in engine No. 2 (right), engine No. 1 (left) separated during splashdown and sank, but on January 23, 2009 it was raised from the bottom of the river and sent for examination.

Investigation [ | ]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began investigating the causes of the accident on the Hudson.

At the meeting, pilots Sullenberger and Skiles were presented with claims that threatened them with criminal liability for the fact that they (allegedly) could have landed the plane at the departure airport or at other nearby airports ( and Newark in New Jersey), but did not do this, but splashed down on the Hudson River. As evidence, the NTSB cited evidence from simulators that simulated the same situation, and in all cases, expert pilots managed to land the plane at LaGuardia, Teterboro and Newark.

In their justification, the pilots stated that they were given about 5 seconds to make decisions (although in the simulators about 20 seconds were allotted for this), which was confirmed by readings taken from the voice recorder. After this, the NTSB decided to insert into the flight simulator of Flight 1549 the time consumption figures that were taken from the recorder. After that (live) none of the simulator pilots were able to land the plane on the nearest runway.

After reviewing all options for resolving this situation, all charges against the pilots were dropped.

The final report of the NTSB investigation was published in April 2010.

The further fate of the aircraft[ | ]

Damaged aircraft at the Carolinas Air Museum

After the passengers were evacuated, the plane was towed to a pier near the World Financial Center (approximately 6 kilometers from the splashdown site), where it was raised.

After the investigation was completed, the aircraft was acquired by the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. At first, the plane was without engines; it was fully presented by the fall of 2012.