Jane’s Aviation Analyst Comments On The US Airways Jet’s Emergency Landing on the Hudson River
London (16th January 2009) – Chris Yates, IHS Jane’s Aviation Analyst, explained, “This aircraft appears to have flown into a flock of geese on take off from New York’s LaGuardia airport. In so doing, birds were apparently ingested into both engines causing a rare double engine failure during the most critical take off phase of the flight.”
“It seems likely that the ingestion fatally damaged blades in the engines with the resultant debris being sucked further into the power-plants and causing much greater damage. This is also likely to have led to significant electrical power aboard the stricken airliner,” continued Yates.
“The aircraft appeared not to have sufficient airspeed or altitude to affect an emergency landing back at LaGuardia and the pilot had no option but to land the jet where possible. In the event the Hudson River presented the best option. Landing on water is a difficult maneuver, but was accomplished in textbook fashion and resulted in the airframe remaining structurally intact.”
Yates concluded, “The US Airways pilot’s skill, determination and quick thinking contributed significantly to passengers surviving a crash landing that could have turned out so differently.”
The Airbus A320 is one of the fastest selling aircraft and has an exemplary safety record. US Airways have 75 Airbus A320 and are the largest operator of this aircraft type in North America.
A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will now examine the crash site to determine the exact course of the emergency landing.
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