Airbus 320 ditches into New York’s Hudson River
As many of you know by now, today there was a forced ditching of an Airbus 320 from US Airways. From what I read so far, the failure of both engines due to bird ingestion is the likely cause. After declaring an emergency, New York RAPCON offered emergency runways at Teterboro and Newark, but the pilot wisely chose to avoid the hazardous areas around the airports and landed in the water. My hat is off to the crew!
Bird strikes have been the cause of several aircraft accidents in the past, and thousands of bird strikes causing no damage happen every year. I recall a Lockheed C5 Galaxy flew into a flock of snow geese, had degraded thrust in three of its engines, and returned safely to Dover Air Force Base Delaware. The photo that I saw showed a completely shattered radome, something that today’s airbus seemed to keep intact.
It will be interesting to see the NTSB press releases coming up. I’ll be happy to listen and read any comments at flyingpilot@gmail.com or len@flyingpilot.com or the comment line at +1 (206) 203-3300.
Len
