The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : "We're gonna be in the Hudson"

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The Spectacle Blog

"We're gonna be in the Hudson"

By Philip Klein on 2.5.09 @ 12:45PM

The FAA has just released the audio of the US Airways Flight 1549 air traffic control recording, which reinforces how remarkably well pilot Chesley Sullenberger performed after a double bird strike took out the thrust in both engines. What's clear from the tape is how quickly Sullenberger had to eliminate various options --returning to LaGuardia and landing in New Jersey's Teterboro-- before deciding to land the plane on the river. It was literally just two minutes between the time when he says the plane's engines were taken out and the time he definitively said he was ditiching in the Hudson. Sullenberger's voice is entirely calm the whole time, as if he were just encountering some minor turbulence.

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Wlady| 2.5.09 @ 1:35PM

Not to quibble, but since it's a line that is already part of American lore, I think it should be quoted the way Sullenberger said it: "We're going to be in the Hudson." That's how I heard it, notwithstanding the official transcript's use of "gonna."

ncatty| 2.5.09 @ 6:17PM

Experienced commercial pilots who fly in and out of the same airport will game-play scenarios in their minds such as "where will I try to put down if I lose power at such and such altitude coming out of LaGuardia." I am sure he had thought about it before. This does not take away from his execution but explains the quick decision making process.