Nice piloting.

A friend of mine posted a cool video of the simulation of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson. The link to the simulation is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tE_5eiYn0D0#t

It's syncronized with the flight data recorder so all plane movements - pitch, bank, yaw, as well as thrust and controller movements like the flaps -- are recorded in real time with the video. Internal cockpit conversation as well as Captain Sully's communications with New York Departure are also included.

What's really interesting to me are the three areas where things really could have gone wrong. Of course the bird strike was potentially catastrophic since two engines were lost, but one of the first main decisions the Pilot had to make was whether or not to try to take the plane back to LaGuardia. The plane was wheels up at 8:25am and the bird strikes occurred just two minutes later as the plane was still in its climb out at just 2,900 feet.

At this point you can see and hear that the pilot is trying to turn the plane around toward LaGuardia by banking it to the left. This is the first place where things really could have gone wrong, as a low and slow plane on a steep bank angle can stall. If that had occurred, the results would have been catastrophic. However, Capt. Sully kept the bank angle relatively low. This resulted in the plane not even coming close to being able to complete the turn back toward LaGuardia, but also resulted in what the Captain had noticed moments before the bird strike -- the beautiful Hudson River shimmering in the cockpit window. Sure enough, there was a vast expanse of river -- which the plane was essentially perpendicular to-- running left to right in front of it. Continuing toward the river and slowly banking left, with the plane still losing altitude, Captain Sully considered his remaining options. But, one major crisis -- a stall -- had been averted.

The next decision was whether or not to go for landing at nearby Teterboro airport in Northern New Jersey. At this point, however, the plane is still losing altitude or at best just barely holding at around 1,000 feet for a few seconds. Unless the vectors into Teterboro were provided immediately and it was less than a minute to touchdown, there was no way the plane would make it. Capt. Sully smartly decided to nix Teterboro and made the instantaneous decision to drop it in the Hudson. Smart move considering that was the only possible choice. Crisis number 2 resolved.

The last problem was the biggest: how to get the plane down in the Hudson without causing catastrophic damage to the body of the plane, which would invariably result in instant death or drowning for at least some passengers and crew. You'll notice that, as the plane continues its descent down into the Hudson, the Captain employs the "flaps". Those little pieces of machinery are attached to the backs of the wings and are used by pilots to allow a plane to fly slower without stalling, and to descend without increasing airspeed. The employment of the flaps at this time was absolutely critical as it permitted the plane to bleed off airspeed. If the plane had come down too fast (and pointing the plane's nose down toward the ground in order to land will increase airspeed because of the force of gravity), it almost certainly would have broken apart in the water. Another issue was keeping the planes' wings absolutely level. Even a small error with the yolk would have resulted in a wing being sheared off, a wing which was full of gasoline and which also could have resulted in a catastrophe. Captain Sully feathered the plane down slowly, slowly, and simply planted it as smooth as could be right in the Hudson. Last crisis averted.

Amazing piloting skills. Capt. Sully was cool and calm the entire time and managed the crisis before him to perfection. It is a testament to the training all pilots receive and makes me proud to be a pilot.