# The "miracle on the Hudson": Sullenberger/crew skill and interaction w/ Airbus 320

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-miracle-on-the-hudson-sullenberger-crew-skill-and-interaction-w-airbus-320/606120>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 14, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-miracle-on-the-hudson-sullenberger-crew-skill-and-interaction-w-airbus-320/606120 "2011-12-14T02:18:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-miracle-on-the-hudson-sullenberger-crew-skill-and-interaction-w-airbus-320/606120/21 "2011-12-15T16:49:50Z")

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> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> It’s worth noting that pilots do NOT always respond to emergencies with cool-headed technical precision. This week’s release of the transcript of the above-mentioned Air France 447 is a case in point, but there are others.

The Wikipedia article about [this crash outside Stockholm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_Flight_751) does not really tell the true story. The captain panicked, or rather froze, and the true hero was his colleague that rushed to the cockpit to assist.

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**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-miracle-on-the-hudson-sullenberger-crew-skill-and-interaction-w-airbus-320/606120/22 "2011-12-15T17:10:34Z")

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> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#):
>
> I’m no expert, but I can’t imagine a better answer than this Vanity Fair article:
> 
> [http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/06/us\_airways200906](http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/06/us_airways200906)
> 
> Executive summary: it was an incredibly fortuitous combination of skill, guts and technology that came together.

Thanks for this article. It has one of the most horrible and hilarious descriptions I’ve ever seen (regarding how jet engines are tested for bird resistance):

“The birds are commercial farm-raised stock, purchased from suppliers. They are slaughtered just before the tests, then wrapped in lightweight Styrofoam sabots, loaded into nitrogen-powered pneumatic cannons, and fired into the engines at about 250 miles an hour. The cannons are known as chicken guns, turkey guns, or rooster boosters. The tests are filmed with high-speed cameras, and can be viewed on the Internet in slow-motion videos, some set dramatically to music.”

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