Plane Crash in NYC

[Ogre]

Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A US Airways plane with more than 150 people aboard went down in the Hudson River on Thursday after taking off from LaGuardia Airport, and everyone aboard got off the plane alive, officials said.

Flight 1549, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, may have experienced a bird strike, according to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown.

Passenger Alberto Pinero said that within a couple minutes after takeoff, "you just heard a loud bang and the plane shook a bit."

Passengers could smell smoke, and "the plane just started turning. ... We knew something was going on, 'cause look, we were turning back," he said.  Watch footage of plane in water »

"Somehow, the plane stayed afloat and we were all able to get on a raft," Pinero said. "It's just incredible now that everyone's still alive."

The plane had 148 passengers, Brown said, and either five or six crew members on board when it took off at 3:26 p.m. It was airborne for less than three minutes, she said.

Everyone on board exited the Airbus A320, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Witnesses reported seeing the plane hit a flock of birds, Brown said.  See map of crash site »

A source familiar with the situation told CNN the pilot reported a double bird strike, but it was unclear whether that meant birds in both of the engines or two birds in one engine.

The pilot initially said he needed to go back, and air traffic controllers started to give him clearance to do so, but the pilot said he wanted to head to Teterboro, New Jersey, because it was closer. That was the last transmission from the pilot, the source said.

Pinero said the plane's captain came on the speaker and said, " 'Brace for impact.' "

"That's when we knew we were going down and into the water," Pinero said. Pinero said rescue boats arrived immediately.

"I think a lot of people started praying and just collecting themselves," passenger Fred Barretta said. "It was quite stunning." He said he was expecting the plane to flip over and break apart, but it did not. "It was a great landing."

Live video showed the plane bobbing in the water and moving with the current surrounded by boats, including a ferry that dropped life jackets into the water.

Pictures from the scene showed passengers filing off the plane on safety chutes.

Witness Ben Vonklemperrer said he saw the plane go down.

"I'm in an office building on the 25th floor," he said. "A short time ago, I saw what looked to be a small commercial plane flying south making a gradual landing. I saw it hit the water. It made a big splash. ... If someone's going to land a plane in the water, this seemed the best possible way to do it. The way they hit it was very gradual. A very slow contact with the water."

Since 1975, five large jetliners have had major accidents in which bird strikes played a role, according to the Web site of Bird Strike Committee USA, a volunteer group dedicated to reducing the frequency and severity of the strikes.

More than 56,000 bird strikes were reported to the FAA from 1998 to 2004 according to the group's Web site.

An Airbus A320 has 150 seats -- 12 in first class and 138 in economy, according to the Airbus Web site.

People who believe they may have had relatives on the flight may call US Airways at 1-800-679-8215 within the United States, the airline said.

[Tarheel]

Wow.  A bird strike.  That could happen to anyone's flight.  Glad everyone got off the plane safely.

[Saniflush]

Sad that the addition of a jet and it's contents up to and including the fuel actually make the Hudson cleaner.

[GarMan]

Sad that the addition of a jet and it's contents up to and including the fuel actually make the Hudson cleaner.

Aside from the plane going down, the second most disturbing fact about this incident is the Hudson River.  I'm betting that there will eventually be several lawsuits against New York on this.  I think everyone has wondered about how the plane was still floating.  Well, that substance in the Hudson may resemble water, but it no longer possesses the properties of water.  A cinder block would likely float in that cesspool. 

[CCTAU]

I would have to say that the captain's decision to set it down in the Hudson saved all of those loves. I have never heard good things about a crash landing with a plane full of fuel that went well. The response by the officials in boats was superb. Just all around a miraculous event in the sense that not one person died. I still think they could have put cables under the plane and kept it afloat till they could get it in to a shipyard.

I wonder if they will try to raise it?

[Thrilla]

Wow.  A bird strike.  That could happen to anyone's flight.  Glad everyone got off the plane safely.

Yep.  So now I not only worry about Habib Muhammed bin Laden, but Mother Fucking Goose as well next time I hop on a plane.  Pass the Prozac...I'm chasing it with some hard liquor before my next flight.

The Growing Hazard of Bird Strikes
There are many remarkable aspects of the emergency landing made by U.S. Airways flight 1549 - the pilot's ability to make a controlled landing a stone's throw from Manhattan in the Hudson River, the speedy response of nearby ferries and tour boats, the fact that no passengers were seriously hurt. But among the surprises was the fact that the incident appeared to be caused not by terror attack or mechanical failure, but by a wayward flock of geese. (See pictures of the plane crash in the Hudson River.)

While the National Transportation Board has yet to conduct a full investigation, authorities believe the geese were sucked into the plane's two jet engines, causing immediate engine failure, shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia airport. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, has engines designed to sustain damage from a bird weighting up to a four pounds, according to Todd Curtis, founder of Airsafe.com and an aviation safety expert. Canadian geese - the suspected culprits - weigh an average of 10 pounds. More than 219 people have been killed worldwide as a result of wildlife strikes since 1988, according to the volunteer organization Bird Strike Committee USA.

"Wildlife mitigation" is the official phrase for avoiding accidents like these and, according to the government's latest report on the topic, it's becoming an increasing concern. The report, which was released in June by the FAA, the USDA, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Wildlife Service, found that since 1990 the number of bird strikes has quadrupled, from 1,759 in 1990 to a record 7,666 in 2007. Officials cite a number of possible causes for the increase:

• Most commercial airlines are now replacing older, three- and four-engine planes with more efficient double-engine aircraft. Because these newer engines are quieter, birds are less likely to detect and avoid them. Worse still, fewer engines mean fewer back-ups should a plane and a flock of birds cross paths.

• While officials use radar and radio collars to track bird populations, habitat destruction and climate change have disrupted migratory patterns. Moreover, the populations of certain species of bird are increasing at rapid rates, thanks to changes in food supply. The Canada goose population, for example, has grown 7.3% annually from 1980 to 2006.

• Air traffic has increased markedly during that same period, growing from 310 million airline passengers in 1980 to a record 749 million in 2007, meaning the skies are more crowded for both birds and Airbuses.

• To further complicate matters, officials must be careful to identify which particular type of bird are struck in each incident to help biologists conduct "wildlife management programs" without violating laws that protect endangered species.

It's not just a civilian concern either. In 1995, the U.S. military began re-evaluating its BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) program after a $270 million U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry struck a flock of 31 Canada geese during takeoff, causing a fiery crash that killed 24 servicemen. Solutions to the problem currently in use include habitat modification (planting specific types of grass that are distasteful to birds) aversion tactics (using dispersal teams, AKA "goose guys", to scare them away) and lethal control (killing a specific number to reduce populations).

Commercial airports like New York's John F. Kennedy airport, meanwhile, have gotten just as creative: Hawks and falcons, which fly solo and are therefore less dangerous, are released near runways to scare flocks of sea gulls and geese. Other airports hunt and destroy bird nests and eggs.

"The risk is real," Curtis says, "Birds are a threat every day." Even so, the fact that birds disabled both engines of U.S. Airways flight 1549 simultaneously is far from common. "Only on rare occasions do you have them causing a crash [like this]."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090116/us_time/08599187217500

[Saniflush]

Well the fucking bunny huggers have gotten it mandated in many areas that you can't (legally) shoot these damn pest geese.

[Thrilla]

Well the fucking bunny huggers have gotten it mandated in many areas that you can't (legally) shoot these damn pest geese.

And that stops us how from blasting the fuck out of them when we're "dove" hunting? ...oh, I see where you put "legally" in parentheses.  I don't understand how they can be protected...they're not endangered or anything.

In North America, non-migratory Canada Goose populations have been on the rise. The species is frequently found on golf courses, parking lots and urban parks, which would have previously hosted only migratory geese on rare occasions. Owing to its adaptability to human-altered areas, it has become the most common waterfowl species in North America. In many areas, non-migratory Canada Geese are now regarded as pests. They are suspected of being a cause of an increase in high fecal coliforms at beaches.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Goose