THE pilot who crashlanded a passenger jet in New York after its engines failed has revealed how he made the decision to ditch in the Hudson to avert a possibly “catastrophic” crash in Manhattan.
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger told air safety investigators he decided that with no power to the engines, after the plane was struck by geese, he would be unable to return to LaGuardia airport or land at the nearby Teterboro airport, as he could not risk taking the jet over densely populated northern New Jersey.
“We can’t do it,” Sullenberger told air traffic controllers. “We’re gonna be in the Hudson.” The pilot told investigators that in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the plane last Thursday afternoon, he felt it was “too low, too slow” and near too many buildings to go anywhere other than the river, according to an account of his testimony to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
His co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, who was initially flying the plane, kept trying to restart the engines. Sullenberger and Skiles described the moment when a flock of geese struck the jet, taking out the engines. Sullenberger said that in an instant the windscreen was filled with birds. Then there was a thump, the smell of burning birds, and silence as both aircraft engines cut out, he said. – (Guardian service)