I received a letter yesterday form an old friend I had cruised in the USS Midway with in the late 80’s and flew F-4 Phantoms with ten years later. It is poignant and reminded me of the days when my squadron and the other squadrons of the VA/VAQ Air Wings at NAS Whidbey Island would [...]

USAIR -1549: A reliable industry source (flight test) tells me that both engines showed severe damage from the geese impact. One actually was still running slightly (sub idle) but with EGT (exhaust gas temperature) spiked it was producing no thrust. There was physical evidence of geese in both. Continental crash in Denver: The same source [...]

Ram Air Turbine that is. OK I’m being cute; the Rat is a back up source for electrical and hydraulic power. I have had a lot of questions on how a fly by wire aircraft could continue to fly with little or no power or hydraulics. First, what is fly by wire? Basically, very basically; [...]

A little hamlet in north eastern San Diego County called Warner Springs is the torture capitol of the USA. There is another, smaller center, on the east coast in the mountains of Maine. It even has a name, SERE School, that’s right, a school for torture in the USA. There are more, these are just [...]

If there is a common response from pilots, it is irritation at the use of miracle to describe the ditching of USAIR 1549. It was not an interruption of the laws of nature. According to the Catholic definition: “wonders performed by supernatural power as signs of some special mission or gift and explicitly ascribed to [...]

Wow, it sure didn’t take long for the press to try and turn good news bad. That is their nature I suppose, bad news sells in their opinion. First, a note in the headline explaining it was the same aircraft would have been appropriate (it was according to the NTSB). The fact it has nothing [...]

I thought this video was interesting because you can see the effect the current had on the aircraft in the water. No doubt it made the rescue by the Coast Guard and other vessels significantly harder. As a former Naval Aviator I can appreciate the professionalism of the first responders, especially of the fact no [...]

Minute by minute 3:24:54: US Airways Flight 1549 is cleared for takeoff. 3:25:51: Pilot tells the departure controller he is at 700 feet and climbing to 5,000. He is instructed to climb to 15,000. 3:27:01: Radar shows the plane intersects “primary targets” – probably a flock of birds – while climbing between 2,900 and 3,000 [...]

Embedded video from CNN Video This is an excellent video from security cameras around the area of the ditching. All I can say is one word, perfect! Look at the aircraft attitude and wings at touchdown. The wings were level and the attitude perfect for a high speed ditch. Keep in mind that the engines [...]