US Airways plane landed in Hudson River is piloted by USAFA Grad

Flight path from radar returns of US1549 here:

http://www4.passur.com/lga.html

Put in 15:26 on Jan 15 2009 for the time and hit the start button at the top and you can see what occurred.

Give it a second or two and you’ll see it appear off the end of rwy 4.

If you click on the plane, the flight information fields fill in on the right hand side.

The call sign for it is AWE1549.

Initial vector is runway heading, then a turn to the left, maybe 350 for climb out.

At 3200 ft - a hard turn to the left and down the river. (Bird strike occurs over the park in the Bronx/harlem area)

Over the GW Bridge at no more than 1700.

See another aircraft coming up the river (a General Aviation flight N461SA – shows up in the registry as a helicopter) and avoids them by turning hard right and a quick decent to 800 ft.

And finally the ditching.

Can’t wait to hear the ATC recordings.
 
What's that old pilot's saying:

Every take off is optional. Every landing is mandatory.

"Sully" has the right stuff, for sure.
 
Proof positive that AF pilots really want to be Naval Aviators. This one just forgot the part about the carrier. :yllol:



All joking aside, that was one HELL of a feat of flying! BZ to the pilot! :beer1:
 
Good one, Zaphod! I think the pilot was just showing you that ANY pilot can make a water landing - the Navy just trains theirs for such. (Apologies to Hornet)
 
Zaphod, you crack me up. Naval aviators, indeed.
 
Thanks, Luigi. That was a very cool link.
 
phenomenal

The passengers called the pilot "phenomenal". That was the headline in our local paper - "Phenomenal Pilot Saves 155".

Z, according to NBC news, the tail of the plane landed in the water first. :wink:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top