Xema, you should write for an aviation magazine so that pilots can appreciation for your practical analysis.
Any chance ChrisBooth12 would feel a little different if he had been aboard the plane?
I think you guys are misunderstanding what I mean. I am not saying this pilot is not a very very competent person and did things that a great majority of pilots probably could not do. This guy had balls of steel. Walking up and down the cabin not once but TWICE while the passengers were leaving. I just think that this thing is really made into a big deal, more then it needed to be. I just don’t believe it needs to be on every news channel all the time. To answer your question if I would feel different had I been on the flight. If I say no to the best of my knowledge I do not believe I would would you believe me? I feel like I get tired of having to clear things up. I have already pointed out that things like this happened before, not every detail but are any two crashes alike? The plane had special valves to be sealed in the event of a water crash yes I know they were not used. My point is the argument about how a plane is not suppose to be in the water…well no it’s not but it is designed to hold up as best as it cant his guy did a great job I just don’t understand why the media and everyone else wants to do back flips and give him a little medal that says hero on it. He did his job, a very difficult job but he did it and people lived. I have once hit the emergency stop button on a piece of equipment that saved someones limb if not life. Why? Because I knew how to operate it and knew what to do during certain circumstances. The two things don’t compare but I believe so many people do so much amazing things everyday that saves lives that we don’t even know about.
Had the bird strike happened ten minutes later or in darker outdoor conditions, we’d probably not having this discussion. Let the media praise the flightcrew for all its worth because there’s rarely positive news on lately.
ChrisBooth12, what is it exactly that you think the media is supposed to report on?
Also, I think it’s an interesting parallel that Bush’s Presidency began with the worst aircraft disaster in history while Obama’s began with a miraculous crash landing.
Especially about a big plane crashing in New York. New Yorkers who saw the plane coming low must have been practising duck and cover until the news reports came in. And then the relief would have been overwhelming.
It’s really, really rare for everything to go right at once. ‘Everything going right at once’ is a pretty good definition of perfection. They got an A+ on a course where most people get an F. Perfection is a goal, not a standard. The only way this landing could have been better would be if the Captain sang to the geese in special geese-song and persuaded them to fly away before they hit the engines, saving both the plane and the geese.
The story has been milked a lot (so I understand where you’re coming from with your very mild rant), but for good reason. Lots of ordinary people, with ordinary jobs, did their jobs perfectly, saved lives, got lots of media time, and didn’t milk it for personal reward. I’d rather my front pages were filled with that than more Britney-style shenanigans.
I agree with the bolded line.
I think that’s what this news story was celebrating.
There simply isn’t enough news-space to celebrate every single ordinary person who does amazing things; we have to pick and choose, and celebrate the whole by one outstanding photogenic example.
Also, you pressed a button? Er, well done. You pressed a button!
No need to be snarky at this particular post.
Several times I saved the day as a pilot by knowing which button to push and when to push it.
Saving a limb is a great thing and many people who should know better freeze and don’t push the right button or push it too late.
That is part of what a pilot is paid for but we don’t always get it right. He got it right and is justified IMO to make this particular statement.
I think pilots should get hero status more often and for longer periods of time but he does not. I’m cool with that part of his approach. But sometimes it is just a simple as pushing a button, but the knowing to do it and when to do it and not panicking and doing it on time and correctly during an emergency situation is well within bragging territory IMO.
YMMV
Is he a pilot too, then? It read more like someone on an escalator or at a factory. Pressing the stop button there could certainly be a big deal, but it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect to be reported in national news, is it? Even if it were, that would be everyday heroism - which is exactly what’s being celebrated with this plane crash, so why wouldn’t you like it? Someone like you does something extremely well, gets plaudits, makes your professions look really good, - how is that bad?
I didn’t think the OP was being excessively whiney. I could see where he was coming from, a litttle bit, kinda. I just thought that his ‘pressing a button’ thing wasn’t a very good example and it made me laugh.
Actually… it’s pretty basic for glider pilots to maintain airspeed without engines, and Sully is a glider pilot. While it is certainly possible for non-glider pilots to ditch successfully, I have to consider that his experience in flying without engine power factored into the successful outcome.
Another famous, un-powered, no-injury landing of an airliner, the Gimli Glider also involved a glider pilot landing an airliner. In that case, it was clear the pilot utilized his glider training to land safely.
While an outcome where all survive is how the world should work, it is not how the world actually works all the time. In an emergency such as the Hudson River landing a certain sequence of events must occur in a very short span of time, and they must be done correctly. Experience shows this does not always happen. There is nothing wrong in celebrating a happy ending (but yes, time to give it a rest, media people).