US airways flight 1549 - Water Crash Landing

ALL UPDATES ON THIS STORY ARE PUBLISHED ON THE BOTTOM.

By now everyone has heard about the crash landing in the Hudson River of US airways flight 1549. The flight had to make an emergency water landing roughly 6 minutes after takeoff from La Guardia Airport (KLGA) en route to Charlotte, NC. The plane experienced an engine failure due to a suspected bird strike to what it seems like the left engine. The pilot made an amazing landing which only cause minor injuries to some passengers. There were roughly 155 people on board the aircraft at the time of this incident. The NY waterway ferries were some of the first on scene, helping passenger to disembark the aircraft. Circe Line ferries were also present to assist in the rescue. The US Airways plane had the good fortune to be under the command of an old-style stick-and-rudder pilot. Chelsey B. Sullenberger III 57, is a former USAF fighter pilot and a man who lives for flying. He has 19,000 hours and among other things, he is also a glider instructor and he runs a company that advises on safety systems and crew procedures. But once again bravo to the pilots for their incredible landing. Most water landing look like the video below. It is a Ethiopian jetliner making a water landing after being hijacked and running out of fuel.







Now getting down to business. I was led to believe that all aircraft engines are tested for bird strikes before they go into service on any passenger aircraft. This video below is an example of such a test.






Here is another example of a bird being sucked into a jetliner's engine at takeoff. This aircraft, which was taking off from a Manchester airport, made a safe landing under much the same circumstances.






Now it wasn't immediately clear which engine on the aircraft was struck by the bird (suspected to be a goose) but from the videos and pictures I suspect it was the left engine. Now if the aircraft engines were in fact tested against bird strikes, why did the engine fail? What really happened to flight 1549? The NTSB's investigation is pending and I will be updating you on any news that will arise in during this investigation.

UPDATES: The plane reportedly struck a flock of geese and not just one goose. The aircraft lost BOTH engines... Carry on.

The plane lost both engines on impact with the water. Diver teams are now working on the recovery of said engines.

The NYPD, NTSB and the FBI are working to find video footage of the aircraft going down. There are many riverside cameras and this event might have been caught on tape. If this footage is found, I will post it promptly.