Passengers mark 14 years since 'Miracle on the Hudson'

[roodd279]

So I take it airport or onboard radar can't pick up a flock of geese? Geese are pretty substantial flying objects.

And...what? Swerve around them? Beep the horn?

[Chava61]

I remember that incredible day and this miracle landing. But sadly for another NYer (a good friend of mine) it's the exact day that his mother died due to illness.

[martinjsxx]

I think pilots should be able to function faster than “normal human reaction time” in an emergency. The normal human reaction time for a person trying to hit a fastball is probably a lot longer than the reaction time for a major league baseball player which is why there are only a few people are in the major leagues. Same should be true for pilots with respect to reacting to flight events.

I think Sullenberger only flew for American one more time before retiring and that was with his co-pilot as a special reunion. He certainly deserves credit for the successful water landing.

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by martinjsxx

I think pilots should be able to function faster than “normal human reaction time” in an emergency. The normal human reaction time for a person trying to hit a fastball is probably a lot longer than the reaction time for a major league baseball player which is why there are only a few people are in the major leagues. Same should be true for pilots with respect to reacting to flight events.

I think Sullenberger only flew for American one more time before retiring and that was with his co-pilot as a special reunion. He certainly deserves credit for the successful water landing.

Depends

We are all better at the stuff we constantly deal with, train extensively for and do daily ..

We are no different at the stuff we don’t do on a regular basis in the same exact manner of circumstances.

One of the first things we learned in combat training is reaction time is way slower than action time .

Meaning in hand to hand up close situations , if you strike first no matter how much the opponent has seen in combat , they will never react as fast to the unexpected.

It has to be something you see regularly to develop a faster reaction time .

It needs to be burned in to muscle memory and play out exactly as experienced with no veering from what you did or other decisions to make, which certainly wasn’t the case with scully .

As a drummer I have much faster hands and fingers than most , but my hands only react well to the patterns I have done over and over and over.

I constantly have to learn from scratch all the beats ,rhythms and hand patterns I don’t use regularly.

There is a saying ,how we train is how we fight …..

But if circumstances are different then we trained , all bets are off

[Mightyqueen801]

I remember him saying that years of experience and making judgments all came down to that one moment.

I had taken the day off that day, so I didn't see the plane except on TV, but a couple of days later, someone I worked with sent the pics of the plane being removed from the water. He was on hand to witness it.

Another interesting note from that day was hearing the calls between the ferries that a plane was down in "the North River", an old Dutch maritime name for the Hudson still used by some who work the river in the NYC area.

The South River, by the way, was the Delaware.

[roodd279]

Mildly changing my semantics on this...I think people confuse "hero" with "Super Hero" (universe of your choice). In the every-day use of the word, from various sources - Sully does indeed meet the definition. You can disagree with the definition, of course, but that's on you - not him.


From Wiki: hero is a real person... who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength.


Oxford:
1.
a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities...




Brittanica:



a : a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities




Merriam:

c: a person admired for achievements and noble qualities

d: one who shows great courage

Safe to say, he at least merits the discussion in that context. What is "courage?" Doing what needs done in the face of fear or danger. I'd say he did that.



To downplay it and say, eh, his training kicked in...that's great. Lots of people are trained. A whole lotta them pee their pants when the real thing comes along.