The landing was impressive, but the most difficult and impressive thing he did was abandon the approach to Teterboro and commit to the Hudson. Every bone in his body must have wanted that runway, but he knew he didn’t have it and committed to his only available option.
100%. And a Teterboro decision would have been one of worst aviation disasters in history. A fire ball would have consumed many people on the ground in addition to zero chance of survival by the flight. Instead, one of the greatest aviation achievements in history.
Thank Airbus engineers too: "US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, experienced a dual engine failure after a bird strike and subsequently landed safely in the Hudson River in January 2009. The NTSB accident report[12] mentions the effect of flight envelope protection: "The airplane’s airspeed in the last 150 feet of the descent was low enough to activate the alpha-protection mode of the airplane’s fly-by-wire envelope protection features... Because of these features, the airplane could not reach the maximum angle of attack (AoA) attainable in pitch normal law for the airplane weight and configuration; however, the airplane did provide maximum performance for the weight and configuration at that time... The flight envelope protections allowed the captain to pull full aft on the sidestick without the risk of stalling the airplane."
@BartJ583 I see your point, but I'm a pilot myself, and while I've a fraction of his experience, I'd argue mastering your emotions and making good judgement calls is way harder than the physical flying. I'm a helicopter pilot and we have way more options on where to land in an emergency than fixed wing pilots do. Despite this there is still a huge impulse, which must be fought, to push to an airfield where there is crash rescue, facilities, etc. than to just land in some farmer's field and wait for hours for a recovery team. Many very experienced pilots make the wrong choice and defy explicit, memorized emergency procedures because they desperately want that airfield. I imagine this impulse is even greater for fixed wing pilots, as any landing not on an airfield isn't a controlled event.
Teterboro was out of reach from the very beginning. LGA Turnback was the option he passed to go to the Hudson instead. 24 simulations from Airbus with different pilots showed that. But from the beginning he wanted the Hudson. Bad decision.. But lots of luck..
The instantaneous and decisive communication between the three neighboring airports was just as impressive imo. Dude picked up a phone and and immediately the message was received and acknowledged.
Very impressive indeed but just so you know, ATC personnel actually don't "pick up a phone" even though that's what it seems like. They have a touch screen that has a lot of individual buttons they press for instant intra facility and nearby facility communications. At least that's how they're setup at the Daytona Beach TRACON.
Have you heard the story of the ATC personnel the morning of 9/11? It is fascinating because they are so so calm, but you can hear that they know something is wrong as events unfold. Many people did everything they could to figure out what was happening and to stop those planes. The coordination is crazy, and they had every plane grounded within hours via coordination and radio.
"Got any ideas?" "Actually not" Words from pilots who know they've done everything they could but there's still the hope that maybe the other guy might have thought of something you didn't. A real team.
They were both extremely skilled pilots. The FO actually had slightly more flight hours than sully and had been a captain for another airline and another kind of plane. He was new to the A320 though. You had extremely skilled and experienced captain and FO and then highly experienced and skilled flight attendants behind them. Also some of the best ATC people in the world covering that patch of sky around New York. Basically the ideal team you’d ever want if you were on a plane with a problem. They all did amazing. You love to see when humanity comes together.
As a former flight attendant, I still get chills listening to this. He knew if he attempted Teterboro every life would be lost. In the Hudson, if one was saved, it was more than none. Well done.
Well he would've taken out thousands of people on the ground trying to get to that airport as well. He only had 500 ft between him and the ground, no way was he making it.
@@gb342002 - Yeah no shit, you needed her to spell that out also? Or are you intelligent enough to understand simple, implied, common sense? You know? Like when a plane crashes in a freakin' city, lots of people are going to perish? Or you just enjoy posting your stupidity on a comment that seeks to do nothing more than compliment the pilots, because for some reason, you think you're smarter than everyone else LOL.... but this is the RUclips comment section after all, home of the idiots (myself included, and definitely including you).
If they had been a few thousand feet higher he might have been able to land at an airport. No thrust from the engine & low altitude not a good combo. A miracle they made it. I remember seeing it on the news as a kid
The calm in Sullenberger's voice is uncanny. His whole crew did an amazing job. The air traffic controller as well. Faith in humanity slightly restored
I’m impressed by no many things like Jeff starting the APU so quickly to keep electronics alive, Sully committing to a water landing because he just “felt” that they didn’t have the energy to make Teterboro. Getting all the vents closed to prevent submersion, choosing the best flaps setting and keeping the nose up long enough to create enough drag to arrest the speed. These were the right guys at the right time.
It's like literally, everyone involved in this flight was excellent, led by the captain, to the air traffic controller, to the rescue boats, crew, and even passengers.
This all happened under 5 minutes of the flight, wow, that is terrifying to even imagine as a passenger, and the ultra focus the captain and co-pilot is absolutely incredible.
Aviation royalty, and the first officer who gets almost no notoriety handled his duties with incredible calm precision. Pilots of this magnitude are on a whole different level of humanity, no one can remain that calm in that situation.
First officer Skiles failed to hit the ditch button on the overhead panel to make the cabin watertight. Because of that he was demoted to a baggage handler at Dulles. Sad but true. (JUST KIDDING, seems like a great guy)
Pilot and First Officer that had only worked together for a short time and pulled this off... Absolute Badasses. I've had an engine go out, but I had to change my shorts after. This crew... Masters
@@DrLumpyDMus It's good that Sully is so humble. But the truth is that putting into application that which has only been practiced is a big horking deal. I think the saying is, "The best laid plans of mice and men..."
3:02 You see how when he deploys flaps his rate of descent slows, regains a bit of altitude and the speed goes down, later he's asked by the copilot if he wants more flaps, he decides to stay at 2 so that he doesn't stall over the river. He ends up grazing the water at about 130 knots (150 mph) -- it's very important that his angle of attack and attitude are just right so that he uses the water for gradual braking. If you try to do this in flight simulator you'll see it's very tricky, if you don't do it just right you end up stopping too fast or stalling too much, he did it perfectly.
Only mistake, item that could have been done better, flipping the ditch switch. Which they didn't get to in haste. It was well done, No deaths. Had they not been so close to the ferryboats I think not flipping that switch would have killed a few people. Luck, calculation, whatever. It worked. Well done flight crew, well done indeed.
@@Sylinnilys ok so I googled it. You are very right. But man controlling a plane 100% perfect sounds hard considering it has hundreds of buttons etc Especially indeed since they did everything in a few minutes
The entire episode is a study in guys doing exactly what they should have been doing, calm and efficient, focused, and trying hard as all heck to keep the landing from killing everyone. Which is exactly how it turned out. Luck? Yep, probably a bunch. But skill? TONS of that.
"cant do it, were gonna be in the Hudson" That early into it, he knew. Ive tried this simulation a thousand times on FS2020 and still cant do it as perfect as Sullenberger did it.
@@oliokioli He had experience with gliding. Not paragliding. Not the same. Gliding (soaring) happens with a stiff-winged airplane, paragliding is something else totally.
I’m glad the controller was eventually able to see he did a great job. Cleared 3 runways at LaGuardia within a minute and gave the captain Runway 1 at Teterboro within 20 seconds - an airport LaGuardia doesn’t usually communicate with but he knew the airport because he’d previously worked in that sector. Then despite hearing the awful news they were headed for the river, maintained his composure vectoring other aircraft out of the way and giving the captain the option of Newark just in case he regained use of the engines.
It really makes me think how in pilot training, we're told to fly the plane the entire step of the way. The air traffic controller here did exactly that. He provided ATC support every step of the way, even when the aircraft was only tens of feet away from the Hudson River. The right team at the right time.
Jeff Skiles spoke at EAA Oshkosh 2014. His lecture was recorded and played on our PBS last night. He said this about the controller (named Pat or Patty): "Patty was so distraught at losing the aircraft that he was immediately taken off his controller station and sent elsewhere to clear his head. There was a TV on somewhere at New York Tracon and the incident was on the news almost immediately. All the survivors and ferry boats were shown on the TV. Somehow 45 minutes passed before they remembered to find Patty and tell him that Cactus 1549 was OK. He was ecstatic to learn they survived." Jeff Skiles' lecture on the incident is well worth watching. Lots of incites offered.
I continue to this day to marvel over the professionalism displayed by involved parties not the least of which is the ATC. His expeditious clearing of runaways and providing options to the pilots, comms with Teterboro. i still get chills no matter how many times I listen. Cant forget to mention the NY Waterway ferries who without hesitation went from shuttling commuters to rescue operations, as well as the NYPD SCUBA cops deploying from their helicopter.
The calm way he says "were not able we may end up in the hudson" brings tears to my eyes. So much on the line, so many lives, and a calm leader, the Captain just lets them know...............
Think what it must have been like as a passenger. You hear a loud boom, engines go silent, you start losing altitude, then you hear: “This is the captain; brace for impact!”
Teterboro, although it didn't work out, was suggested by Sully. How alert and quick thinking do you need to be that he is thinking faster than everyone at LaGuardia? Amazing!
Sully was definitely on point this day. To be fair, ATC was replying to Sully’s initial request to return to LGA. When Sully said he couldn’t do it, ATC gave him another runway at LGA. When Sully declined again, ATC asked him what he needed to land.
Yeah... I saw him pick up that altitude to bleed speed - that was some darn fancy flying. You put a plane anywhere but the runway safely and they'll know how many grains of sugar were on your Wheaties and look to drag you, but as the captain of an aircraft he did his duty to keep them safe.
@Genaro Scala I said "look to" as I'm aware from the NTSB report and its 213 insomnia-curing pages that they didn't. However, despite keeping the plane relatively intact and evacuation of all passengers and crew with zero fatalities and relatively few serious injuries, there wasn't a total lack of attempt to cast doubt that there weren't better options and better ways to land an A320 on a river. Evidently, one is to fly extremely fast at the water then level off at extremely low altitude and use ground effect to bleed off speed [Airbus test pilot in a simulator]. This would *maybe* have prevented breaks in the fuselage that resulted in the aft doors being unusable and prevented a vertical beam at Frame 65 from nearly turning Flight Attendant A into a shishkabob. Edit: Or, if slightly misjudged, killed everyone on impact. Most of this extremely brief alternate scenario data came from Airbus, as image preservation is generally the case when you have a hull loss that isn't due to obvious pilot error or intentional acts. The investigation by the NTSB was, in a word, boring, and making a government agency look like a villain only requires you to replace extremely mundane regulatory individuals with actors who were mistakenly sent to learn from KGB defectors instead of NTSB investigators and I think that the attempt to turn a 5 minute flight into a 2 hour movie did nothing positive for the NTSB.
@@kdawson020279 never heard anybody talk about it, but when I was watching the altitude drop I noticed that too, so appears with the nose up and flaps up you can gain a little bit of altitude which was the ultimate lifesaver.
@@thebeasters When I read the NTSB report, the FDR indicates he was hovering at the bottom edge of maneuvering speed. The use of ground effect and entering the water such that the plane didn't cartwheel or submarine was some ace flying. I imagine his fighter pilot training came in handy. I don't dig in to the whole report on many incidents, but there's a lot of interesting information and you realize just how narrowly death was avoided. And, I felt bad for Captain Sullenberger, because he didn't have time to eat the sandwich he bought since he'd missed lunch. I wonder if the sandwich survived. 🤣
Not only did he save lives on the plane, but he save lives on the ground too. He knew what he was doing. He had a feeling because he’s flown so much and had so much experience. He just knew what he had to do! Remaining calm and his copilot, they saved not just a live on the plane, but the lives on the ground! I wouldn’t hesitate to call him the greatest pilot EVER!!!
2:40 “I’m sorry, say again Cactus” You can hear in his voice that he is saying this while thinking…..please, God please tell me he didn’t say what I think he just said…. He is one of the best ATC in the biz and handled it flawlessly but even the best can not over come the dread this scenario held.
great, informative video. Just a note to others: the text on the screen is what the pilots are saying to eachother in the cockpit, displayed in real time with the ATC radio communications that can be heard the first 3 letters tell which microphone in the plane is recording, and the number after tells who is speaking on that microphone. 1 is captain, 2 is First officer, 3 is flight attendant etc
To add: HOT is the recording from the “audio panel” of each crew member i.e. their “hot” mics (everything that they said) plus audio warnings, CAM is the recording from the microphone embedded in the overhead panel of the cockpit and RDO is a radio transmission.
don't you think the NTSB were portrayed as nasty finger pointers in the Tom Hanks film Sully? they have a job to do, plus the NTSB have done so much for the safety of our airways and shipping lanes.
Not only for the occupants in plane but people on ground a bad decision to take an airport instead of the Hudson could’ve resulted in another scare of 9/11
I’ve never been in a situation like this but I have been in life or death situations before and it’s wild how the brain slows everything down where each second starts feeling like 5 (I’m guessing that maybe high adrenaline states like that cause the brain to process info faster than it does normally) You end up feeling like those extra moments you get are just barely enough for you to figure out the right move at the last second. Still these pilots were incredibly in the way that they seemed so unphased and knew exactly what they needed to do when at every moment. I love these aviation stories of just amazing pilots. There is one that doesn’t get talked about a lot that I think is just as amazing if not more. I forgot the flight number but it was an air Canada flight that ran out of fuel mid flight and had to land on a runway at an abandoned base. The runway was too short and they were going too fast so this guy literally drifts the plane on landing like a car. There were two kids riding bikes on the runway too and he was able to slide the nose against a guard rail to slow the plane more. He was able to get the plane to stope before it hit the kid and everyone survived the ordeal.
For those not in the industry, this what goes on behind the scenes everyday when you fly. This is a genuine symphony of years and years of training from every person involved. Years of accidents and incidents that all lead to the policy we have today. And when shit his the fan this is when everything must come together. As a airline pilot I can honestly tell you beyond the confidence we have in the flight deck, it’s much easier to go to work everyday knowing ATC is on the ground and has our backs 100% of the time. Most people who try to do ATC washout. Takes an insane amount of stamina and stress management to do that job and most of them age very rapidly. They’re civil servants no doubt about it. A much harder job than what we have up in the flight deck. Sure sometimes we have to handle some shit but most of the time it’s relaxed. These controllers are high stress all day everyday.
i am very worried we won’t continue to get people to do this work in the future. thankless, high stress, middle class work. they should get paid much more than they do.
@@supitschillbro it’s with high hopes we continue to keep the standards high and the candidates coming up respond well to the training. As with anything we will see a shift in the industry but I do believe that safety is one thing this industry strives very hard for despite a lack of government support sometimes. True professionals in all aspects
Seen from an ATCO's point of view one could say exactly the opposite. Perhaps it's because we are trained to do that all our career but I can assure you that the job is most of the time relaxed; sometimes we actually hit some shit (like bad wx, traffic overload) but luckily routine exists also in air traffic control like in flying. The training goes into switching rapidly from routine to non routine work if needed, in a split second. As an ATCO, I've always been impressed by the emergency handling by Sully but also by the colleague in the NY Tracon: calm, focused, trying to help the crew without interfering to much during an extreme cockpit workload period.
Fast thinking is what saved everyone aboard U.S.AIR 1549. Capt. Sullenburger knew very early on that Teterboro wasn't a viable option. The crew did everything correctly! THIS IS THE RIGHT STUFF!!
it's incredible when you watch the speed and the altitude you can see that he takes the plane down to 208 feet then pulls back up to 360 feet, slowing the plane down from 190 knots to 130 and then regulating the speed and rapid descent to the perfect attitude landing.... try and be that masterfull at anything... it is like watching a kungfu master rolling with the punches... or a ballerina on ice. pure perfection.
For those of you wondering why the altitude increased from208 ft to 360ft [3:08] that’s because when they pulled the flaps out in the Airbus it balloons up the aircraft a tad bit. ATC thought they might have regain both engines but that wasn’t the case. Great CRM by Cap Sully FO Jeff and the flight attendants.
Mad respect to everyone involved with this incident for the professionalism they showed. The water rescue reminded me of 9/11 with boats coming from everywhere to help.
You can see when he was flying along the river bank he had to truly contemplate the river landing. Must have been the heaviest moment of his life. Even watching him veer off towards TEB, he knew he wasn't high enough, and the river was the only viable option. Scary as hell, heroic as humanly possible. Both pilots are heroes for eternity.
Watching the airspeed and altitude at the bottom of the video in real time with audio was interesting. You see them steadily losing altitude to maintain airspeed avoiding a stall.
Also if I'm not mistaken, the angles of the runways at Teterboro ran Northeast/Southwest and North/South, which look like tough angles to reach given the plane's position at the time they considered Teterboro.
@@Daynan also, Sully had BALLS OF STEEL. Instantly knew how to efficiently fly the aircraft to maximize their time and effective decision making. So many crashes that didn't need to happen, only because the pilots nerves and misreactions to problems only created more problems thus decreasing time and effective decision making. Incredible.
@Jay C That was a pilot error. All pilots know you have to push nose down if popping out 20 degrees of flaps all at once.. The Fly By Wire dropped the nose for Sully, avoiding the low alt stall he was producing. Im a CFI.. Then later on, Sully went to put the airplane down, after it saved his life..
When you actually see the timeline, the speed, the height, and read the dialogue, I am AMAZED that this Captain didn’t panic. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. I cannot BELIEVE they even questioned this Captains decisions EVER! Wow, incredible
This never gets old! Captain Sully is stone cold‼️ He processes his thoughts inwardly, and only gives a verbal response that is the absolute bottom line. He does not use one word too many, or one word too few to describe their situation. Anybody can fly a plane when things are going as planned: it's when you know that the you know what hits the fan that you need somebody with experience and critical thinking skills‼️‼️❤️🇺🇸💙
Another thing I love, is after Sully declares the absolute bottom line of "unable"" we're gonna end up in the Hudson." we don't hear another word from him because he is now continuing to aviate and navigate‼️‼️
Very interesting. A couple of thoughts: In the movie, which was quite faithful to the actual events, the EGPWS called out the infamous "whoop-whoop Pull Up!" several times after passing the GW bridge. The actual CVR, here, indicates that never happened. The increase in attitude seemingly out of nowhere as the plane approaches 200 feet is due to the flaps being deployed, which raises the nose and slows the aircraft. When the co--pilot later says, "got flaps at 2, you want more?" and Sully says "no, let's stay at 2", his concern was more flaps would slow the aircraft down too much and put it into a stall (where is loses all airspeed and lift, falling to the ground). The Airbus320 is great at compensating for this, so if Sully had gone full flaps, it's possible the plane wouldn't have stalled, but turns out it was the correct decision. The most overlooked thing is how quickly this happened from bird strike to water landing, in New York City where some very bad things have happened with plane crashes. The focus by Sully can't be overstated here.
I’m not a pilot and not sure all the behind the scenes details of this incident, I’m sure there are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks that say sully should have done this or done that, the bottom line is he landed a big plane with severely damaged engines in the most populated areas in the country and everyone walked away.... hero in my book
Well they got a group of pilots to have a go at landing it in the sims they were only successful at landing it on a runway after over 20 practices, which also reduced the thinking time with each try.
He POSSIBLY could have landed Runway 13 (the sort of northwest to southeast runway at LGA) He knew that was 'possible' but very risky; it would bring the aircraft directly over northern Manhattan. That crossed his mind and he was quickly (nearly immediately) set on ditching in the river. No other pilots in the sims could have done any better on the first try. Fully turning back to LGA is RISKY. They had approximately 3:30 from bird strike to the river. In that time, they went through the important memory items and started on the QRH; EXACTLY what they train to do! 👍 Had he continued his left turn to RWY 13 or 22, he would have been LOWER than some of the building in Manhattan. Runway 22 would have required a much tighter left turn; something you absolutely avoid at low speeds (tight turns increase loading and stall speed.) Because the departure for RWY 04 requires a left turn, that made it harder to turn back to line up on RWY 04 (04 is the same runway he took off from, just different direction.) Had they departed straight out until 5,000 feet, he could have made the 360° turn and land RWY 22 (but this is impossible due to LGA departure procedures. They have several departure procedures for RWY 04, but they ALL include an initial climb to 500 feet followed by a left turn, then climb to 5,000.) He not only made the right call; he made the ONLY call! He's a professional and a gentleman, and to be honest, in real life he's sort of a nerd! Hehehe (I met him a few times.) 😁👌✌️ Oh, P.S. - From the time of the bird strike, Capt Sully went through the most important memory items AND assumed control of then aircraft (policy) in 12 seconds. In TWELVE seconds, he recognized the engines failing, switched ignition, turned on the APU (critical) and assumed control! Learn your memory items, folks! Even if you fly 172s, learn the memory items and have a checklist on hand at all times! And PRACTICE!!
i just experienced a very scary bird strike on an austrian airlines flight from amsterdam to vienna. engines were fine as far as i am aware, but the feeling of the strike and the smell of smoke was terrifying. i cant imagine what the passengers and crew were feeling on this flight with sully. he and his copilot are true heroes for keeping them all safe.
Sully's brevity is noted, but when the Air Traffic Control communicates he uses the word Both to refer to the engine loss. This describes the quantity and the full scope. Teterboro doesn't immediately know the type of aircraft, but they know it can't be a four or three engine coming in with diminished thrust, it is a twin engine with little or no thrust.
And another thing I love is when Captain Sully says, "we can't make it." The "we "tells me he saw this as a team effort. I would just be very happy to have Sully as the captain of my team‼️‼️
I'm not an aviation person so it's possible I'm well and truly incorrect, but this isn't the CVR, I'm pretty sure. Whatever it is, I'm still blown away by the achievements of Capt Sullenberger, First Officer Skiles and the rest of the crew, not to mention the quick response from vessels on the river. Just an outstanding job.
The CVR transcript is the words on the screen (NTSB doesn't release CVR recordings to the public). The sound is the recordings between Cactus 1549 and the New York TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol, or the ATC center that was in charge of the airspace around the airports after they left the ground).
does anyone else feels something in the throat and gets emotional at how beautiful that "landing" on the hudson was? i don't think we will see another Sully pulling something like this anytime soon but i wish there is not gonna be the need for either...
nope and never will (unless laws change a lot or someone filter it) .. pilot unions prevent them to go public.. the best you can get is the transcript.. they are only played to NTSB or FBI members and to the crews involved or families of the dead
I have to google this Pilot. Damn his IQ at 12 was above 98%. Extraordinary intelligent. He was an ex military fighter pilot. His achievement and awards is more than our biographies in the comment. And he started flying at 16. Amazing Pilot av known.
2:49 approx. 500ft 2:59 approx 300ft >> 200ft >> approx 1200 feet per minute - interesting to know. Great job, great airplane with low speed protection (alfa floor) - supposed there is electrical power - so the 2 crucial decisions : 1. commitment to ditch in the Hudson 2. start APU by heart and asap. Bravo Sully. Btw with approx 200 kt ground speed these 1200 fpm would correspond to about 4 degrees glide angle (leaving some kinetic energy for a flare manouvre)
An absolute hero, and a master pilot. May he live out a happy and peaceful life for the countless he saved that day. Damn those who tried to make him out to be incompetent.
Last year when I was doing my PTPC in simulator in Bangkok, we had few minutes left and we decided to went over this scenario, even though I knew what is coming it was still hard to handle
Imagine dealing with this shit and having all the bing-bong cockpit warnings yelling at you for good measure. “Whoop whoop!! Pull up! Whoop whoop” Too low terrain!! Whoop whoop!!” Would not be at all surprised to one day hear someone shout "YES I KNOW WILL YOU FUCK OFF I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!!!” . . . . . . Whoop whoop”
Look up mini aircraft investigations for speedbird9, the ba747 that flew into the volcano ash. The captain made this prediction back in the 90's when he flew the 747-400's at the end of his career.
ruclips.net/video/MNuKEOviUvo/видео.html it was exactly like that "I asked him to repeat him self even though i've heard him just fine. I simply couldn't wrap my mind around those words. People do not survive landings on the Hudson river and I thought that was his own death sentence. I believed at that moment i was gonna be the last person to talk to anyone on that plane alive."
I havent heard it being talked about. As both pilots were concerned about all soles on board. But you have to factor in there concern for the safety of many more soles on the ground. I think that had to flash threw the pilots mind as he was running threw the options as they were falling from the sky. After he was directed to change his flight path. What was right before them was the only area without any people at all to change a desaster into a worse and more costly desaster. Something that pilots have to have in the back of there minds as they take off in very large aircraft. They did a awesome job.
_Sully_ was a good film, but I'm still pissed at it to this day for how dirty it did the NTSB for the sake of giving the film an antagonist and extending the plot.
Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles are personal heroes of mine. The successful ditching of Cactus 1549 was one of the most impressive examples of Airmanship in history, landing a fully laden A320 on a river without a single fatality is testament to the skill shown by Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles.
Hey Eric. If you are referring to the failed attempt at La Guardia, the pilot definitely made the right call on no flaps. Flaps add lift (and stability as you are slowing and your angle is changing, as in descent and can decrease your stall speed) but it is at the cost of drag and immediately decreasing how far you can make it. If you wanted to stretch your glide i.e., glide the farthest, than you would not add flaps. You only add flaps when your landing is "made." Sully added flaps because it allowed him to slow even more and the added lift could lower stall speed, assist in cushioning the impact and increase stability. He was not concerned about making it farther at that point. Hope that made sense! Incredible movie :)
I wasn't being argumentative, I just wanted to educate. No flaps is the proper procedure. I was speaking from experience as a pilot. When you lower flaps you have to lower the nose to keep your speed (putting you in the ground quicker). If the flaps come down, your distance is immediately shortened. Flaps will never increase your glide/distance.
Thank you NTSB for this great presentation! Can someone please tell me, at 4:34 in the flare for the ditching, Skiles asks "...switch?"; what would he be talking about?
He’s referring to the “ditching’ push button switch. Located on the overhead panel, right above the first officers left eye brow. This switch motors all ventilation ports (avionics bay cooling and exhaust, pressurization outflow valve) closed, for a water landing. This helps prevent a large intake of water, and hopefully allows the aircraft to float a while longer.
Just thought that myself. In 2025 we'd have several dozen different 4K camera angles as everyone pulled out their iPhones. And maybe even a passenger or two who decided to livestream the crash.
If he was going for teb should have gone in runway 24. But that was a great call knowing you didn’t have the altitude or airspeed to make it back LaGuardia
99 out of 100 pilots would've attempted to make it to Teterboro and that is because pilots are taught water landings are exceptionally dangerous. If you understand fluid dynamics you can understand why. You have to have a FLAWLESS Angle of Attack to survive. Nose slightly up, and contacting that water in a way that ONLY the flat bottom of the plane makes contact. If a wing dips or the nose or even the stabilizer wing in the back touch the water, it would snag the plane, and make it do summersaults as it broke up at 170mph. Knowing all of this Sully executed a 1 in a 1000 picture perfect landing. It was so perfect that no one compartment on the plane took on more water than another so the plane stayed buoyant during the entire rescue effort! Can't say enough regarding the skill of this pilot...and is Co Pilot. No arguments...He followed orders perfectly and together they were Batman and Robin that day!
Immediately after the bird strike, They POSSIBLY could have made it to TBR if that was their first instruction. Bull the decision to minimize risk over populated areas and maintain over the river was the better choice. He KNEW he could safely land in the river. TBR might have worked but was just a little too far for his mind to say YES. Frickin hero.
The landing was impressive, but the most difficult and impressive thing he did was abandon the approach to Teterboro and commit to the Hudson. Every bone in his body must have wanted that runway, but he knew he didn’t have it and committed to his only available option.
100%. And a Teterboro decision would have been one of worst aviation disasters in history. A fire ball would have consumed many people on the ground in addition to zero chance of survival by the flight. Instead, one of the greatest aviation achievements in history.
Thank Airbus engineers too: "US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, experienced a dual engine failure after a bird strike and subsequently landed safely in the Hudson River in January 2009. The NTSB accident report[12] mentions the effect of flight envelope protection: "The airplane’s airspeed in the last 150 feet of the descent was low enough to activate the alpha-protection mode of the airplane’s fly-by-wire envelope protection features... Because of these features, the airplane could not reach the maximum angle of attack (AoA) attainable in pitch normal law for the airplane weight and configuration; however, the airplane did provide maximum performance for the weight and configuration at that time...
The flight envelope protections allowed the captain to pull full aft on the sidestick without the risk of stalling the airplane."
@BartJ583 I see your point, but I'm a pilot myself, and while I've a fraction of his experience, I'd argue mastering your emotions and making good judgement calls is way harder than the physical flying.
I'm a helicopter pilot and we have way more options on where to land in an emergency than fixed wing pilots do. Despite this there is still a huge impulse, which must be fought, to push to an airfield where there is crash rescue, facilities, etc. than to just land in some farmer's field and wait for hours for a recovery team.
Many very experienced pilots make the wrong choice and defy explicit, memorized emergency procedures because they desperately want that airfield. I imagine this impulse is even greater for fixed wing pilots, as any landing not on an airfield isn't a controlled event.
@BartJ583 Yes if one engine went in the water more than the other on touchdown the plane could of broke up.
Teterboro was out of reach from the very beginning. LGA Turnback was the option he passed to go to the Hudson instead. 24 simulations from Airbus with different pilots showed that. But from the beginning he wanted the Hudson. Bad decision.. But lots of luck..
The instantaneous and decisive communication between the three neighboring airports was just as impressive imo. Dude picked up a phone and and immediately the message was received and acknowledged.
Very impressive indeed but just so you know, ATC personnel actually don't "pick up a phone" even though that's what it seems like. They have a touch screen that has a lot of individual buttons they press for instant intra facility and nearby facility communications. At least that's how they're setup at the Daytona Beach TRACON.
It's like we actually train our aviation personnel well. We need more of the best in this industry at every level.
@@lemonator8813 In every industry. It's good that you see that. You'll be inspired, hopefully, to be one of those "best". Good luck!
I thought this too
Have you heard the story of the ATC personnel the morning of 9/11? It is fascinating because they are so so calm, but you can hear that they know something is wrong as events unfold. Many people did everything they could to figure out what was happening and to stop those planes. The coordination is crazy, and they had every plane grounded within hours via coordination and radio.
"Got any ideas?"
"Actually not"
Words from pilots who know they've done everything they could but there's still the hope that maybe the other guy might have thought of something you didn't. A real team.
I think that’s what I’m most impressed with. In all that stress, he thinks to ask the FO if he thought of anything outside manuals or regulations.
They were both extremely skilled pilots. The FO actually had slightly more flight hours than sully and had been a captain for another airline and another kind of plane. He was new to the A320 though. You had extremely skilled and experienced captain and FO and then highly experienced and skilled flight attendants behind them. Also some of the best ATC people in the world covering that patch of sky around New York. Basically the ideal team you’d ever want if you were on a plane with a problem. They all did amazing. You love to see when humanity comes together.
amazing CRM
As a former flight attendant, I still get chills listening to this. He knew if he attempted Teterboro every life would be lost. In the Hudson, if one was saved, it was more than none. Well done.
Well he would've taken out thousands of people on the ground trying to get to that airport as well. He only had 500 ft between him and the ground, no way was he making it.
@@gb342002 - Yeah no shit, you needed her to spell that out also? Or are you intelligent enough to understand simple, implied, common sense? You know? Like when a plane crashes in a freakin' city, lots of people are going to perish? Or you just enjoy posting your stupidity on a comment that seeks to do nothing more than compliment the pilots, because for some reason, you think you're smarter than everyone else LOL.... but this is the RUclips comment section after all, home of the idiots (myself included, and definitely including you).
If they had been a few thousand feet higher he might have been able to land at an airport.
No thrust from the engine & low altitude not a good combo. A miracle they made it.
I remember seeing it on the news as a kid
The calm in Sullenberger's voice is uncanny. His whole crew did an amazing job. The air traffic controller as well. Faith in humanity slightly restored
Unable
Unable
not even a shred of panic or doubt losing both engines over fucking new york city
I’m impressed by no many things like Jeff starting the APU so quickly to keep electronics alive, Sully committing to a water landing because he just “felt” that they didn’t have the energy to make Teterboro. Getting all the vents closed to prevent submersion, choosing the best flaps setting and keeping the nose up long enough to create enough drag to arrest the speed. These were the right guys at the right time.
It's like literally, everyone involved in this flight was excellent, led by the captain, to the air traffic controller, to the rescue boats, crew, and even passengers.
sully started the apu before taking over the plane :) they all did a fantastic job :)
Sully is the person who started the APU
This all happened under 5 minutes of the flight, wow, that is terrifying to even imagine as a passenger, and the ultra focus the captain and co-pilot is absolutely incredible.
Aviation royalty, and the first officer who gets almost no notoriety handled his duties with incredible calm precision. Pilots of this magnitude are on a whole different level of humanity, no one can remain that calm in that situation.
joe leeman we just saw two who could.
Look up Alaska 261 and try not to cry
First officer Skiles failed to hit the ditch button on the overhead panel to make the cabin watertight. Because of that he was demoted to a baggage handler at Dulles. Sad but true. (JUST KIDDING, seems like a great guy)
Puma, please stop spilling nonsense. He decided to leave US-Airways on his own, he's a pilot on the Airbus A330 for American Airlines now.
Ricki Lake - obviously my information is different.
Pilot and First Officer that had only worked together for a short time and pulled this off... Absolute Badasses. I've had an engine go out, but I had to change my shorts after. This crew... Masters
Captain* and First Officer.
FO is a Pilot too :-)
They did exactly what they practiced in school. Nothing more. Sully has said that in every interview.
@@DrLumpyDMus It's good that Sully is so humble. But the truth is that putting into application that which has only been practiced is a big horking deal. I think the saying is, "The best laid plans of mice and men..."
3:02 You see how when he deploys flaps his rate of descent slows, regains a bit of altitude and the speed goes down, later he's asked by the copilot if he wants more flaps, he decides to stay at 2 so that he doesn't stall over the river. He ends up grazing the water at about 130 knots (150 mph) -- it's very important that his angle of attack and attitude are just right so that he uses the water for gradual braking. If you try to do this in flight simulator you'll see it's very tricky, if you don't do it just right you end up stopping too fast or stalling too much, he did it perfectly.
Only mistake, item that could have been done better, flipping the ditch switch. Which they didn't get to in haste. It was well done, No deaths. Had they not been so close to the ferryboats I think not flipping that switch would have killed a few people. Luck, calculation, whatever. It worked. Well done flight crew, well done indeed.
Oh jeeesus wept
@@LandofSunshine 69th idiot plane-spotter who doesn't know what he's talking about.
@@Sylinnilys what does the ditch switch do?
I know absolutely nothing about aviation but I find in very interesting
@@Sylinnilys ok so I googled it. You are very right.
But man controlling a plane 100% perfect sounds hard considering it has hundreds of buttons etc
Especially indeed since they did everything in a few minutes
3:32 "Got any ideas?"
Incredible CRM on top of everything else. Just incredible
The entire episode is a study in guys doing exactly what they should have been doing, calm and efficient, focused, and trying hard as all heck to keep the landing from killing everyone. Which is exactly how it turned out. Luck? Yep, probably a bunch. But skill? TONS of that.
"cant do it, were gonna be in the Hudson" That early into it, he knew. Ive tried this simulation a thousand times on FS2020 and still cant do it as perfect as Sullenberger did it.
It was like he's in the zone at the time. Extraordinary shttttt
He has experience with paragliding. The episode Mayday points it out.
There really was no "early" or "late". It was all "NOW".
@@oliokioli He had experience with gliding. Not paragliding. Not the same. Gliding (soaring) happens with a stiff-winged airplane, paragliding is something else totally.
@@RonaiHenrik It's a different kind of flying, alltogether.
I’m glad the controller was eventually able to see he did a great job. Cleared 3 runways at LaGuardia within a minute and gave the captain Runway 1 at Teterboro within 20 seconds - an airport LaGuardia doesn’t usually communicate with but he knew the airport because he’d previously worked in that sector. Then despite hearing the awful news they were headed for the river, maintained his composure vectoring other aircraft out of the way and giving the captain the option of Newark just in case he regained use of the engines.
It really makes me think how in pilot training, we're told to fly the plane the entire step of the way. The air traffic controller here did exactly that. He provided ATC support every step of the way, even when the aircraft was only tens of feet away from the Hudson River. The right team at the right time.
Jeff Skiles spoke at EAA Oshkosh 2014. His lecture was recorded and played on our PBS last night. He said this about the controller (named Pat or Patty): "Patty was so distraught at losing the aircraft that he was immediately taken off his controller station and sent elsewhere to clear his head. There was a TV on somewhere at New York Tracon and the incident was on the news almost immediately. All the survivors and ferry boats were shown on the TV. Somehow 45 minutes passed before they remembered to find Patty and tell him that Cactus 1549 was OK. He was ecstatic to learn they survived."
Jeff Skiles' lecture on the incident is well worth watching. Lots of incites offered.
I continue to this day to marvel over the professionalism displayed by involved parties not the least of which is the ATC. His expeditious clearing of runaways and providing options to the pilots, comms with Teterboro. i still get chills no matter how many times I listen. Cant forget to mention the NY Waterway ferries who without hesitation went from shuttling commuters to rescue operations, as well as the NYPD SCUBA cops deploying from their helicopter.
The landing looked almost as smooth as if it had been on a runway, amazing job.
The calm way he says
"were not able we may end up in the hudson" brings tears to my eyes. So much on the line, so many lives, and a calm leader, the Captain just lets them know...............
Just imagine the face of the operator in LGA "what did he just said ?" Raising eyebrow...
Think what it must have been like as a passenger. You hear a loud boom, engines go silent, you start losing altitude, then you hear: “This is the captain; brace for impact!”
Teterboro, although it didn't work out, was suggested by Sully. How alert and quick thinking do you need to be that he is thinking faster than everyone at LaGuardia? Amazing!
Sully was definitely on point this day. To be fair, ATC was replying to Sully’s initial request to return to LGA. When Sully said he couldn’t do it, ATC gave him another runway at LGA. When Sully declined again, ATC asked him what he needed to land.
That glide at 200ft onward was amazing. Wish they could've shown that detail in the movie.
Yeah... I saw him pick up that altitude to bleed speed - that was some darn fancy flying. You put a plane anywhere but the runway safely and they'll know how many grains of sugar were on your Wheaties and look to drag you, but as the captain of an aircraft he did his duty to keep them safe.
@Genaro Scala I said "look to" as I'm aware from the NTSB report and its 213 insomnia-curing pages that they didn't. However, despite keeping the plane relatively intact and evacuation of all passengers and crew with zero fatalities and relatively few serious injuries, there wasn't a total lack of attempt to cast doubt that there weren't better options and better ways to land an A320 on a river. Evidently, one is to fly extremely fast at the water then level off at extremely low altitude and use ground effect to bleed off speed [Airbus test pilot in a simulator]. This would *maybe* have prevented breaks in the fuselage that resulted in the aft doors being unusable and prevented a vertical beam at Frame 65 from nearly turning Flight Attendant A into a shishkabob. Edit: Or, if slightly misjudged, killed everyone on impact. Most of this extremely brief alternate scenario data came from Airbus, as image preservation is generally the case when you have a hull loss that isn't due to obvious pilot error or intentional acts. The investigation by the NTSB was, in a word, boring, and making a government agency look like a villain only requires you to replace extremely mundane regulatory individuals with actors who were mistakenly sent to learn from KGB defectors instead of NTSB investigators and I think that the attempt to turn a 5 minute flight into a 2 hour movie did nothing positive for the NTSB.
My, the "I didn't read what you had to say but you're wrong" bit. Arrogant much?
@@kdawson020279 never heard anybody talk about it, but when I was watching the altitude drop I noticed that too, so appears with the nose up and flaps up you can gain a little bit of altitude which was the ultimate lifesaver.
@@thebeasters When I read the NTSB report, the FDR indicates he was hovering at the bottom edge of maneuvering speed. The use of ground effect and entering the water such that the plane didn't cartwheel or submarine was some ace flying. I imagine his fighter pilot training came in handy. I don't dig in to the whole report on many incidents, but there's a lot of interesting information and you realize just how narrowly death was avoided. And, I felt bad for Captain Sullenberger, because he didn't have time to eat the sandwich he bought since he'd missed lunch. I wonder if the sandwich survived. 🤣
Not only did he save lives on the plane, but he save lives on the ground too. He knew what he was doing. He had a feeling because he’s flown so much and had so much experience. He just knew what he had to do! Remaining calm and his copilot, they saved not just a live on the plane, but the lives on the ground! I wouldn’t hesitate to call him the greatest pilot EVER!!!
2:40 “I’m sorry, say again Cactus”
You can hear in his voice that he is saying this while thinking…..please, God please tell me he didn’t say what I think he just said….
He is one of the best ATC in the biz and handled it flawlessly but even the best can not over come the dread this scenario held.
great, informative video.
Just a note to others: the text on the screen is what the pilots are saying to eachother in the cockpit, displayed in real time with the ATC radio communications that can be heard
the first 3 letters tell which microphone in the plane is recording, and the number after tells who is speaking on that microphone. 1 is captain, 2 is First officer, 3 is flight attendant etc
Thanks!
To add: HOT is the recording from the “audio panel” of each crew member i.e. their “hot” mics (everything that they said) plus audio warnings, CAM is the recording from the microphone embedded in the overhead panel of the cockpit and RDO is a radio transmission.
what's EGPWS/GPWS and CAM1?
@@alyx6427 EGPWS/GPWS is the (Enhanced) Ground Proximity Warning System, an automated voice system to warn pilots of possible collision with terrain.
This is an NTSB video, available from the NTSB and posted here to facilitate access for our readers at AVweb.
don't you think the NTSB were portrayed as nasty finger pointers in the Tom Hanks film Sully? they have a job to do, plus the NTSB have done so much for the safety of our airways and shipping lanes.
Thanks for the info AVweb
Best video yet, I’ve never seen the cockpit voice recorder that was a great addition
Sullenberger sounded chill as hell. Absolute legend & hero
How fast it all was ! Captain Sully really had only seconds to make a series of life or death decisions !
Not only for the occupants in plane but people on ground a bad decision to take an airport instead of the Hudson could’ve resulted in another scare of 9/11
I’ve never been in a situation like this but I have been in life or death situations before and it’s wild how the brain slows everything down where each second starts feeling like 5 (I’m guessing that maybe high adrenaline states like that cause the brain to process info faster than it does normally) You end up feeling like those extra moments you get are just barely enough for you to figure out the right move at the last second. Still these pilots were incredibly in the way that they seemed so unphased and knew exactly what they needed to do when at every moment. I love these aviation stories of just amazing pilots. There is one that doesn’t get talked about a lot that I think is just as amazing if not more. I forgot the flight number but it was an air Canada flight that ran out of fuel mid flight and had to land on a runway at an abandoned base. The runway was too short and they were going too fast so this guy literally drifts the plane on landing like a car. There were two kids riding bikes on the runway too and he was able to slide the nose against a guard rail to slow the plane more. He was able to get the plane to stope before it hit the kid and everyone survived the ordeal.
It's his life plus 150 plus people. Heart must be pumping 🫀🫀🫀🫀
For those not in the industry, this what goes on behind the scenes everyday when you fly. This is a genuine symphony of years and years of training from every person involved. Years of accidents and incidents that all lead to the policy we have today. And when shit his the fan this is when everything must come together. As a airline pilot I can honestly tell you beyond the confidence we have in the flight deck, it’s much easier to go to work everyday knowing ATC is on the ground and has our backs 100% of the time. Most people who try to do ATC washout. Takes an insane amount of stamina and stress management to do that job and most of them age very rapidly. They’re civil servants no doubt about it. A much harder job than what we have up in the flight deck. Sure sometimes we have to handle some shit but most of the time it’s relaxed. These controllers are high stress all day everyday.
i am very worried we won’t continue to get people to do this work in the future. thankless, high stress, middle class work. they should get paid much more than they do.
@@supitschillbro it’s with high hopes we continue to keep the standards high and the candidates coming up respond well to the training. As with anything we will see a shift in the industry but I do believe that safety is one thing this industry strives very hard for despite a lack of government support sometimes. True professionals in all aspects
Seen from an ATCO's point of view one could say exactly the opposite. Perhaps it's because we are trained to do that all our career but I can assure you that the job is most of the time relaxed; sometimes we actually hit some shit (like bad wx, traffic overload) but luckily routine exists also in air traffic control like in flying. The training goes into switching rapidly from routine to non routine work if needed, in a split second. As an ATCO, I've always been impressed by the emergency handling by Sully but also by the colleague in the NY Tracon: calm, focused, trying to help the crew without interfering to much during an extreme cockpit workload period.
Fast thinking is what saved everyone aboard U.S.AIR 1549. Capt. Sullenburger knew very early on that Teterboro wasn't a viable option. The crew did everything correctly! THIS IS THE RIGHT STUFF!!
it's incredible when you watch the speed and the altitude you can see that he takes the plane down to 208 feet then pulls back up to 360 feet, slowing the plane down from 190 knots to 130 and then regulating the speed and rapid descent to the perfect attitude landing.... try and be that masterfull at anything... it is like watching a kungfu master rolling with the punches... or a ballerina on ice. pure perfection.
its amazing how calm everyone was
Sully balls are made from solid titanium. He also carries each of them around in it's own bowling ball bag.
I had a lump in my throat listening to that. Seeing the altitude in the hundreds and then less was just scary. Glad everyone survived.
So incredibly professional and such quick thinking on everyone's part. Bravo!!!!
For those of you wondering why the altitude increased from208 ft to 360ft [3:08] that’s because when they pulled the flaps out in the Airbus it balloons up the aircraft a tad bit. ATC thought they might have regain both engines but that wasn’t the case. Great CRM by Cap Sully FO Jeff and the flight attendants.
coolest man in human history, end of story
Drew Xiu you need to read his biography and you will know why. He was an ex military fighter pilot
Why does this makes me tear up every time ?
I’m so glad to read this. I can never watch this without crying, and I have absolutely no idea why.
Checklists. Procedure. crew resource management, stick and rudder skills. All executed effectivey. Debrief. Whens my next flight?
the landing was perfection and so smooth
Thanks AV Web. Another fine clip. Fine airmanship.
Super impressive. Just stayed level-headed the entire time
a man from heaven .. much respect to his wisdom in every second of this difficult time.
Mad respect to everyone involved with this incident for the professionalism they showed. The water rescue reminded me of 9/11 with boats coming from everywhere to help.
How often have you seen an Airbus ditch without any problem or injuries? Any big iron? This was quite miraculous. Mad props to all.
Amazing job, crew and ATC!
You can see when he was flying along the river bank he had to truly contemplate the river landing. Must have been the heaviest moment of his life. Even watching him veer off towards TEB, he knew he wasn't high enough, and the river was the only viable option. Scary as hell, heroic as humanly possible. Both pilots are heroes for eternity.
Watching the airspeed and altitude at the bottom of the video in real time with audio was interesting. You see them steadily losing altitude to maintain airspeed avoiding a stall.
Also if I'm not mistaken, the angles of the runways at Teterboro ran Northeast/Southwest and North/South, which look like tough angles to reach given the plane's position at the time they considered Teterboro.
Thank you for mentioning that!! Missed it as I was focusing on the dialogue. Really tells the story the ATC controller was completely unaware off.
@@Daynan also, Sully had BALLS OF STEEL. Instantly knew how to efficiently fly the aircraft to maximize their time and effective decision making. So many crashes that didn't need to happen, only because the pilots nerves and misreactions to problems only created more problems thus decreasing time and effective decision making. Incredible.
@Jay C That was a pilot error. All pilots know you have to push nose down if popping out 20 degrees of flaps all at once.. The Fly By Wire dropped the nose for Sully, avoiding the low alt stall he was producing. Im a CFI.. Then later on, Sully went to put the airplane down, after it saved his life..
@@emergencylowmaneuvering7350 I'm sure you would have dona a way better job, buddy.
When you actually see the timeline, the speed, the height, and read the dialogue, I am AMAZED that this Captain didn’t panic. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. I cannot BELIEVE they even questioned this Captains decisions EVER! Wow, incredible
This is just amazing. Cheers captain Sully!
"Unable" he sounds so locked in to the point of robotic (and every comms after that)
What an absolute legend!
His calm demeanor gives me chills.
This never gets old! Captain Sully is stone cold‼️ He processes his thoughts inwardly, and only gives a verbal response that is the absolute bottom line. He does not use one word too many, or one word too few to describe their situation. Anybody can fly a plane when things are going as planned: it's when you know that the you know what hits the fan that you need somebody with experience and critical thinking skills‼️‼️❤️🇺🇸💙
Another thing I love, is after Sully declares the absolute bottom line of "unable"" we're gonna end up in the Hudson." we don't hear another word from him because he is now continuing to aviate and navigate‼️‼️
“We’re gonna be in the Hudson.” Old school. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. God bless him
Very interesting. A couple of thoughts:
In the movie, which was quite faithful to the actual events, the EGPWS called out the infamous "whoop-whoop Pull Up!" several times after passing the GW bridge. The actual CVR, here, indicates that never happened.
The increase in attitude seemingly out of nowhere as the plane approaches 200 feet is due to the flaps being deployed, which raises the nose and slows the aircraft. When the co--pilot later says, "got flaps at 2, you want more?" and Sully says "no, let's stay at 2", his concern was more flaps would slow the aircraft down too much and put it into a stall (where is loses all airspeed and lift, falling to the ground). The Airbus320 is great at compensating for this, so if Sully had gone full flaps, it's possible the plane wouldn't have stalled, but turns out it was the correct decision.
The most overlooked thing is how quickly this happened from bird strike to water landing, in New York City where some very bad things have happened with plane crashes. The focus by Sully can't be overstated here.
I think the movie creators wanted to dramatize it
That landing was so perfect omg
I’m not a pilot and not sure all the behind the scenes details of this incident, I’m sure there are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks that say sully should have done this or done that, the bottom line is he landed a big plane with severely damaged engines in the most populated areas in the country and everyone walked away.... hero in my book
Well they got a group of pilots to have a go at landing it in the sims they were only successful at landing it on a runway after over 20 practices, which also reduced the thinking time with each try.
He POSSIBLY could have landed Runway 13 (the sort of northwest to southeast runway at LGA)
He knew that was 'possible' but very risky; it would bring the aircraft directly over northern Manhattan. That crossed his mind and he was quickly (nearly immediately) set on ditching in the river.
No other pilots in the sims could have done any better on the first try. Fully turning back to LGA is RISKY. They had approximately 3:30 from bird strike to the river. In that time, they went through the important memory items and started on the QRH; EXACTLY what they train to do! 👍
Had he continued his left turn to RWY 13 or 22, he would have been LOWER than some of the building in Manhattan. Runway 22 would have required a much tighter left turn; something you absolutely avoid at low speeds (tight turns increase loading and stall speed.)
Because the departure for RWY 04 requires a left turn, that made it harder to turn back to line up on RWY 04 (04 is the same runway he took off from, just different direction.) Had they departed straight out until 5,000 feet, he could have made the 360° turn and land RWY 22 (but this is impossible due to LGA departure procedures. They have several departure procedures for RWY 04, but they ALL include an initial climb to 500 feet followed by a left turn, then climb to 5,000.)
He not only made the right call; he made the ONLY call! He's a professional and a gentleman, and to be honest, in real life he's sort of a nerd! Hehehe (I met him a few times.) 😁👌✌️
Oh, P.S. - From the time of the bird strike, Capt Sully went through the most important memory items AND assumed control of then aircraft (policy) in 12 seconds. In TWELVE seconds, he recognized the engines failing, switched ignition, turned on the APU (critical) and assumed control!
Learn your memory items, folks! Even if you fly 172s, learn the memory items and have a checklist on hand at all times! And PRACTICE!!
Incredible!
Excellent use of CRM.
i just experienced a very scary bird strike on an austrian airlines flight from amsterdam to vienna. engines were fine as far as i am aware, but the feeling of the strike and the smell of smoke was terrifying. i cant imagine what the passengers and crew were feeling on this flight with sully.
he and his copilot are true heroes for keeping them all safe.
Even the Hudson cooperated by being very calm that day.
"We`re gonna be in the Hudson."
Three heros Sully Sullenberger, Jeffrey Skiles, controller Pat Harten. For outstanding performance under the most extreme pressure!
Absolutely crazy how calm he is during a life threatening situation like this
Sully's brevity is noted, but when the Air Traffic Control communicates he uses the word Both to refer to the engine loss. This describes the quantity and the full scope. Teterboro doesn't immediately know the type of aircraft, but they know it can't be a four or three engine coming in with diminished thrust, it is a twin engine with little or no thrust.
It does indeed.
And another thing I love is when Captain Sully says, "we can't make it." The "we "tells me he saw this as a team effort. I would just be very happy to have Sully as the captain of my team‼️‼️
I'm not an aviation person so it's possible I'm well and truly incorrect, but this isn't the CVR, I'm pretty sure. Whatever it is, I'm still blown away by the achievements of Capt Sullenberger, First Officer Skiles and the rest of the crew, not to mention the quick response from vessels on the river. Just an outstanding job.
The CVR transcript is the words on the screen (NTSB doesn't release CVR recordings to the public). The sound is the recordings between Cactus 1549 and the New York TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol, or the ATC center that was in charge of the airspace around the airports after they left the ground).
does anyone else feels something in the throat and gets emotional at how beautiful that "landing" on the hudson was? i don't think we will see another Sully pulling something like this anytime soon but i wish there is not gonna be the need for either...
AWESOME!!!! Great Video! And great Capts, staying cool all the way =)
ATC not CVR
The CVR is probably not publicly available?
nope and never will (unless laws change a lot or someone filter it) .. pilot unions prevent them to go public.. the best you can get is the transcript.. they are only played to NTSB or FBI members and to the crews involved or families of the dead
is the transcript you can read.. you never will be able to listen to the actual CVR of this
+sparrowJLT
Good to know; I was specifically looking for the CVR.
its the same
Water landings are very difficult! I've done too many of them (on my phone of course)!
I have to google this Pilot. Damn his IQ at 12 was above 98%. Extraordinary intelligent. He was an ex military fighter pilot. His achievement and awards is more than our biographies in the comment. And he started flying at 16. Amazing Pilot av known.
It blows my mind that this is real time. This was how fast this all was, and they did it perfect.
Dude knew the plane. Mad experience and did great.
2:49 approx. 500ft 2:59 approx 300ft >> 200ft >> approx 1200 feet per minute - interesting to know. Great job, great airplane with low speed protection (alfa floor) - supposed there is electrical power - so the 2 crucial decisions : 1. commitment to ditch in the Hudson 2. start APU by heart and asap. Bravo Sully. Btw with approx 200 kt ground speed these 1200 fpm would correspond to about 4 degrees glide angle (leaving some kinetic energy for a flare manouvre)
An absolute hero, and a master pilot. May he live out a happy and peaceful life for the countless he saved that day. Damn those who tried to make him out to be incompetent.
This is why Im a airbus advocate, this incident. A water landing where the plane did not break apart was an absolute first
Absolute movie style for all parties involved except its 100% reality! INCREDIBLE!!
The movie makes it seem like a 15 minute ordeal…they had such little time diagnose and troubleshoot, it amazes me to this day…
Great CRM no matter what. I've actually flown next to Sully once. It was quite the experience.
Really?
Last year when I was doing my PTPC in simulator in Bangkok, we had few minutes left and we decided to went over this scenario, even though I knew what is coming it was still hard to handle
Imagine dealing with this shit and having all the bing-bong cockpit warnings yelling at you for good measure. “Whoop whoop!! Pull up! Whoop whoop” Too low terrain!! Whoop whoop!!” Would not be at all surprised to one day hear someone shout "YES I KNOW WILL YOU FUCK OFF I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!!!”
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Whoop whoop”
Look up mini aircraft investigations for speedbird9, the ba747 that flew into the volcano ash.
The captain made this prediction back in the 90's when he flew the 747-400's at the end of his career.
Still to this day it amazes me how Sully was able to land that so clean
America got some of the greatest people in the world. This what makes America great. He even ask his partner you got any ideas. Now thats power.
Everytime I watch this video...I get goosebumps.
Alls I can say in that pilot is a hero! He’s so calm and did an amazing job saving all the people!! 🙏🏻
"You! You are still dangerous. You can be my wingman anytime."
Sully: "Shut the f*ck up Iceman."
At 2:41 when he said “we’re gonna be in the Hudson”, the AT must’ve been like “What the? Excuse me, I don’t think I heard right.”
ruclips.net/video/MNuKEOviUvo/видео.html
it was exactly like that
"I asked him to repeat him self even though i've heard him just fine. I simply couldn't wrap my mind around those words. People do not survive landings on the Hudson river and I thought that was his own death sentence. I believed at that moment i was gonna be the last person to talk to anyone on that plane alive."
Truly amazing landing.
The crew on flight 1549 as well as this traffic controller were absolute heroes that day!
I havent heard it being talked about. As both pilots were concerned about all soles on board. But you have to factor in there concern for the safety of many more soles on the ground. I think that had to flash threw the pilots mind as he was running threw the options as they were falling from the sky. After he was directed to change his flight path. What was right before them was the only area without any people at all to change a desaster into a worse and more costly desaster. Something that pilots have to have in the back of there minds as they take off in very large aircraft. They did a awesome job.
_Sully_ was a good film, but I'm still pissed at it to this day for how dirty it did the NTSB for the sake of giving the film an antagonist and extending the plot.
Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles are personal heroes of mine. The successful ditching of Cactus 1549 was one of the most impressive examples of Airmanship in history, landing a fully laden A320 on a river without a single fatality is testament to the skill shown by Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles.
The move was awesome, Who saw it?
Saw it today. They did an awesome job!
GREAT movie
incredible. wanna watch that again
Hey Eric. If you are referring to the failed attempt at La Guardia, the pilot definitely made the right call on no flaps. Flaps add lift (and stability as you are slowing and your angle is changing, as in descent and can decrease your stall speed) but it is at the cost of drag and immediately decreasing how far you can make it. If you wanted to stretch your glide i.e., glide the farthest, than you would not add flaps. You only add flaps when your landing is "made." Sully added flaps because it allowed him to slow even more and the added lift could lower stall speed, assist in cushioning the impact and increase stability. He was not concerned about making it farther at that point. Hope that made sense! Incredible movie :)
I wasn't being argumentative, I just wanted to educate. No flaps is the proper procedure. I was speaking from experience as a pilot. When you lower flaps you have to lower the nose to keep your speed (putting you in the ground quicker). If the flaps come down, your distance is immediately shortened. Flaps will never increase your glide/distance.
Thank you NTSB for this great presentation! Can someone please tell me, at 4:34 in the flare for the ditching, Skiles asks "...switch?"; what would he be talking about?
He’s referring to the “ditching’ push button switch. Located on the overhead panel, right above the first officers left eye brow. This switch motors all ventilation ports (avionics bay cooling and exhaust, pressurization outflow valve) closed, for a water landing. This helps prevent a large intake of water, and hopefully allows the aircraft to float a while longer.
@@liefbrunhilda926 great, thanks for that!
@@liefbrunhilda926 Until your comment I never understood why it didn't sink quickly. I appreciate your expertise. Thanks.
Seeing the Altitude rise then fall puts into perspective how he made the right decision
2009 was a simpler time. One camera got footage of this emergency landing.
Just thought that myself. In 2025 we'd have several dozen different 4K camera angles as everyone pulled out their iPhones. And maybe even a passenger or two who decided to livestream the crash.
Wife: why are you always watching ATC & Aircraft videos?
Me: Can we get serious now?
at 2:40 it's pretty clear they were not going to make any runway
If he was going for teb should have gone in runway 24. But that was a great call knowing you didn’t have the altitude or airspeed to make it back LaGuardia
99 out of 100 pilots would've attempted to make it to Teterboro and that is because pilots are taught water landings are exceptionally dangerous. If you understand fluid dynamics you can understand why. You have to have a FLAWLESS Angle of Attack to survive. Nose slightly up, and contacting that water in a way that ONLY the flat bottom of the plane makes contact. If a wing dips or the nose or even the stabilizer wing in the back touch the water, it would snag the plane, and make it do summersaults as it broke up at 170mph. Knowing all of this Sully executed a 1 in a 1000 picture perfect landing. It was so perfect that no one compartment on the plane took on more water than another so the plane stayed buoyant during the entire rescue effort! Can't say enough regarding the skill of this pilot...and is Co Pilot. No arguments...He followed orders perfectly and together they were Batman and Robin that day!
Immediately after the bird strike, They POSSIBLY could have made it to TBR if that was their first instruction.
Bull the decision to minimize risk over populated areas and maintain over the river was the better choice.
He KNEW he could safely land in the river.
TBR might have worked but was just a little too far for his mind to say YES.
Frickin hero.
Why does the CVR audio seem to have disappeared from the entire internet? The transcript is all that exists now.
Because the NTSB was mandated by Congress that the audio cannot be released. That's not just this incident, but all incidents where the CVR is used.
200mph at 800 ft and hes calm enough to realize teterboro is a dream and hes gotta accept the water landing. Smooth operator