US Airways Airbus A320 Ditches
All 155 people on a US Airways Airbus A320 survived when the aircraft ditched in New York’s Hudson River on Thursday Jan 15 after a collision with a flock of birds, believed to be Canadian geese, damaged both its engines.
The flight had taken off from La Guardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., and had reached 3,200 ft when the pilot told controllers he had taken a “double hit” and would be returning for an emergency landing.
But if the engines were still turning, they obviously weren’t delivering enough power to reach the airport and the crew elected to ditch in the river, approaching at about 150 knots. Passengers wearing lifejackets soon appeared on the wings, and ferries, firefighters in rubber rafts and Coastguard vessels converged on the scene.
The US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed yesterday that it appeared all 148 passengers and five crew appeared to have been rescued, although other reports said some passengers appeared to have “car crash type” injuries, and that at least two passengers were removed on stretchers.
The aircraft sunk relatively slowly, suggesting that the pressure hull sustained only minor damage in impacting the water. Jet engine mounts are designed to shear under such impacts, and it is likely that both engines separated at touchdown.
Although aircraft engines are tested by firing large birds into their intakes at high speed, something may have slipped through the net. A full size Canada goose can be a metre long with a 1.8 metre wing span and weigh 7 – 9 kg.
Maurie Baston, an Australian aviation consultant and former CASA official who provided the picture, says: “The geese come to Colorado where I have my USA office in Fort Collins every winter. When you see them airborne they can number well in excess of 50-100 and make very loud noises [but apparently not enough to scare away an Airbus.] The crash into the Hudson seems to be caused by hitting some of these and from what I have seen so far, all did a wonderful job. Like I have often said, you get what you pay for, and these people owe their lives to many people who assisted during and after the crash.”
