Audio tapes from the Southwest Cactus 1749 tapes are pretty impressive. Captain “Sully” is cool as a cucumber – of course – but the LaGuardia departure controller has to be commended as well.
We could use some of that down at MYF, I can tell you.
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19 comments to Fine Work All the Way Around |
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Um, that would be USAir 1549 (or Cactus 1549 if you prefer).
I was stuck at how there was no way to even discern any tension in the man’s voice nor betrayal of an emergency situation. Not that I expected histrionics but perhaps a bit elevated tone.
Not to nit pick but I don’t think I ever heard a declaration of emergency – as if, I suppose, one was needed and surely would not have added to the professional response of all involved.
Flying out of Manassas (KHEF) for years I used to think that must have been the first stop for rookie controllers. Most were OK but every now and then you had to resist the urge to want to reach into the microphone, grab them by the throat, and tell them to just spit it out…
I had the same thought about the emergency declaration but it clearly didn’t matter.
I was once at a local GA/ATC safety seminar and a couple of pilots were offering up all these theoretical nightmare scenarios and how to handle the interactions with ATC. Finally one of the controllers just said, “look, if something goes wrong, fly your plane, don’t hit anything, land safely and we’ll work the rest out later”. It was great advice.
I think the controller on this tape did a great job between giving options/information and not adding to the captain’s burden with questions and unnecessary radio calls. I loved the part where after offering a couple of suggestions and getting ‘unable’ as an answer he offers up every and anything in the NYC area by asking, ‘what do you need to land’?
Apparently Sullenberger’s answer was ‘a river, a great team and a few decades of experience leading up to this moment’.
Who knew?
As an ex-ATC (US Army 1983 -86; FLARNG 1986-89) I was surprised that the call sign was not being spelled out… and in fact there was some confusion early on… the controller referred to “Cactus 1529″ (pronounced Fifteen Twenty Nine) rather than 1549… We were taught that we should say “One Fife Four Niner” rather than “Fifteen Forty Nine” for that reason. In this case no harm no foul… but certainly that sort of confusion can cause issues… especially when people are trying to figure out what flight is down and if their family is on it… etc.
This is a nitpick though… I was practically in tears listening to how professional they both were in the situation. I would like to think I could be so cool… not sure I could without some practice… and that is not the sort of practice I want at this point in my life!
Back to basics: aviate, navigate, communicate. Yeah, I know, the first one’s not a real word but it rhymes. Go take it up with the Navy, they’re good at making up words when it suits them. Anyway, point is: fly the damn thing as long as you can, figure out where to put it down, and then worry about telling someone.
Don’t drop the airplane to pick up the microphone!
FAA Order 7110.65
Chapter 2.
Paragraph 2-4-20
Line 2.
” Air carrier and other civil aircraft having FAA authorized call signs. State the call sign followed by the flight number in group form.
NOTE-
“Group form” is the pronunciation of a series of numbers as the whole number, or pairs of numbers they represent rather than pronouncing each separate digit. The use of group form may, however, be negated by four-digit identifiers or the placement of zeros in the identifier…..
NOTE-
Air carrier and other civil aircraft having FAA authorized call signs may be pronounced using single digits if necessary for clarity.”
The LGA tower coordinator was the same dude who was there twelve years ago when I was in the 120.4 seat. Most of those yankees sound alike to me so I can only identify them if they were out of towners like me, so when I listen there are only a few voices I still recognize.
HEF is the rookie spot….. FAA used to rank towers 1-5. N90 was a 5, LGA was a 4, HEF and HGR were 1s. After going to the screen the rookies got to choose where they wanted to go. Mostly they didn’t want to go to 1s because the pay was lower. They got to pick by academic standing.
Management will always find a nit to pick, but it sounds like he did okay to me.
I think the part where he says that he hit birds and lost thrust in both engines pretty much covers the “emergency declaration” that was necessary.
I am still in awe of everyone’s professionalism in this situation. The ATC is incredible – “What do you need?” Amazing.
Simply amazing.
Even after he loses contact with the plane, he’s still trying to help and giving alternatives. And then he goes back to doing his job for the rest of the aircraft he’s responsible for.
Wow.
John V-
The airspace around big airports is so busy these days, and the controllers so overworked, that to “phoneticize” each number and callsigns would only make things worse.
Best
Nose
Most of those yankees sound alike to me so I can only identify
Listening to that crowd on the hotline during those ugly summer afternoons can be entertaining
The airspace around big airports is so busy these days, and the controllers so overworked,
Especially at N90 and the NY metros…When was the last time at least one of the NY metros was not in a GDP?
And the same flight numbers traverse the same airspace essentially daily. So everybody gets pretty used to the cadence.
(until something like this happens…there will never be a Cactus 1549 ever again…)
At least he didn’t hear “qualified student under instruction, will you accept?” … I actually got that once on a a no flap bingo into Mayport. Can’t remember if we declared or not, but the answer was … “uh, no … is your supervisor around?”
Balls as big as churchbells on many fronts, me thinks … from the departure controller to the tower controllers at LGA and TEB who gave up what they could without question.
Always love to hear the pro’s talk on the radio, on both ends of the frequency, but this recording is special. One nice aspect of flying into Oshkosh for Airventure is the terrific job the controllers do – it’s all done with nothing but wing-wags from the arriving pilots in response to ATC instructions, and the FAA sends their very best personnel to OSH for the week. The only problem is usually those handful of pilots who don’t read the arrival NOTAM in advance.
I’m with HomeFrontSix. I thought calling in a dual engine strike with loss of thrust pretty much covered the declared emergency check.
I received a copy of this at work and listened to it a couple times… in particular at the end. The ATC had to be sick to his stomach… there was no way there was no adrenaline flow. He gets the call that there is dual engine strike… and he keeps composed to help… the entire time.
It was as if when the Captain said they were going into the Hudson that he didn’t believe it. It was too incredulous.
And he never missed a beat. I was really impressed…
Bou, that part got to me, too… you can start to hear it all in his voice those last few seconds. He keeps on doing his job, but you can hear the reality start to set in by the tone of his voice.
I was sort of suprised that, given other aircraft were following the same flight path, the ATC did not ask for, and no aircraft volunteered to do, a shadow of the flight to pass along the location once the announcement they’d disappeared from radar had been given.
Fly the airplane, plan your landing, tell somebody when you’ve time. It’s a lot easier to coordinate communications when somebody else is letting you do the two more important tasks and not stepping over you on the comms.
– Max
Lex,
The coincidence of timing was just too great. Had to paste this link:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/07/1m7pilot00820-local-helicopter-pilot-under-faa-scr/?zIndex=49284
I suspect this article identifies a causal factor as to why people have “short” attention spans at Montgomery.
Corsairs_Forever:
I loved the comments section where “Hannibal lector” says: “…and the other half desperately want to be this guy!” LOL!
Nothing but pros there. The best of what our nation offers.
Reminds me of something I was taught by an old Viet Nam veteran Sergeant Major when I was not even commissioned yet: “never raise your voice on the radio when it hits the fan, your troops will key in on your calm- even if you are getting overrun”. Stuck with me and I still think of it whenever I key the mike.
Jumpseat Tale. Some of y’all may just know the author…
First Officer S. is a LGA-based 767 pilot. She resides with her family in Winnsboro, South Carolina. S. is a former Navy pilot, hired at AA in February 1990. She has flown the 727, F100, A300 and now the 767.
The following is her account of the flight, the rescue and recovery response, as well as the support she experienced afterward. This is intended to give each of you a unique insight into the event. We also hope that the crew’s tremendous effort to take care of each other and the nearly instantaneous support of USAPA and APA responders become “takeaways” for our pilots to use when faced with an emergency.
“I was a jumpseat rider seated in First Class on Flight 1549 from LGA to CLT, which successfully ditched in the Hudson River. I’ve been asked to share a few of my experiences on that day. Although it was a stressful incident, the successful outcome and the assistance and support I received afterwards have been truly humbling and inspirational.
“After introducing myself to and being welcomed aboard by Captain Sullenberger and FO Skiles, I was offered seat 3D, an aisle seat in the last row of First Class. I was in my uniform. Another jumpseat rider took a seat in row 6. These were the last empty seats on the airplane. I wasn’t paying much attention to the flight until, climbing out, there were several loud thumps occurring roughly simultaneously along both sides of the aircraft. “Bird strikes,” I thought. A few seconds later, there was a bit of smoke and the stench of burning bird that seemed to confirm my guess. There was a turn to the left, and I assumed we were returning to LGA.
“The passengers were concerned but calm. I couldn’t see any part of the aircraft out the window from my aisle seat. Although I didn’t hear much that sounded encouraging from the engines, I expected we would have at least partial thrust with which to limp back to LGA. We rolled out of the turn, and I could tell we were not maintaining altitude. Then we heard the PA: “This is the Captain. Brace for impact.”
“Obviously we weren’t returning to LGA, and I could see enough out the window to realize we’d be landing in the river. The flight attendants began shouting their “brace” litanies and kept it up until touchdown. The descent seemed very controlled, and the sink rate reasonably low. I believed the impact would be violent but survivable, although I did consider the alternative. The passengers remained calm and almost completely quiet. As we approached the water, I braced by folding my arms against the seat back in front of me, then putting my head against my arms. There was a brief hard jolt, a rapid decel and we were stopped. It was much milder than I had anticipated. If the jolt had been turbulence, I would have described it as moderate. Thinking about it later on, I realized it was no worse than a carrier landing.
“After landing, the attitude of the aircraft was slightly nose high, but not far off a normal parked attitude, and there was no obvious damage to the cabin or water intrusion where I was. No one was hurt or panicked. We all stood up. I could hear the doors open and the sound of slide inflation. There was a verbal command “Evacuate;” people were already moving towards the doors. I exited through the forward right door and entered the raft. The evacuation up front was orderly and swift, and we were not in the water long before being picked up by various boats, which were extremely quick to the scene. Many passengers were standing on the wing, going from feet dry to nearly waist deep as the rescue progressed. They were of course the first to be picked up by the arriving boats. I was picked up by a large ferry boat, climbing a ladder hanging from the bow. It didn’t take long to get all passengers into the boats and to the ferry terminals.
“Once at the terminal, we were met by police, firemen, paramedics, FBI, Homeland Security, the Red Cross, Mayor Bloomberg, and more. Captain Sullenberger continued in a leadership role in the aftermath, talking with the passengers, assembling his crew and including myself and the other jumpseat rider as members of his crew. I was impressed to note that he had the aircraft logbook tucked under his arm. When the Captain asked me if I wanted to join the crew at the hotel, I told him I would really appreciate it as I had lost my wallet. He immediately pulled out his wallet and gave me $20. His concern for me when he had so much else to worry about was amazing.
“The USAPA representative was on the scene very quickly, and again included the other jumpseat rider and myself with the rest of the crew. I didn’t see a flight attendant representative; USAPA took care of the FAs as well. The USAPA representative escorted the entire crew to the hospital (we rode in a NYFD fire truck), where we were joined by other USAPA reps and the USAPA lawyer, all of whom continued to consider me as one of the crew. At the hospital, I had finally called the APA “in case of accident” number on the back of my ID badge for APA. I had not initially thought of that as applying to my situation, as a jumpseater on another airline, but I called anyway. I spoke with APA LGA Vice Chairman Captain Glenn Schafer, who departed immediately to come assist me.
“After a routine evaluation, they transported us by police car to a hotel, where rooms were waiting. The USAPA version of our Flight Assist was also there, and they spoke to me and offered me whatever assistance I needed, again as if I was one of their own. The USAPA reps also brought all of us some clothing and toiletries that they had purchased. Captain Schafer arrived at the hotel, bringing me some necessary items. He stayed overnight at the hotel, making flight arrangements for me to go home the next day and escorting me to the airport. Captain Mark Cronin from the AA NY Flight Office met me at the departure gate, again offering assistance and support.
“I am grateful for the many calls of concern and offers of help I have received, from fellow pilots, union representatives and the company, and I am grateful for and proud of the response and assistance of both USAPA and APA. I would hope that our union would treat another airline’s crewmember as kindly as I was treated. USAirways has also been superb, treating me as if I was a paying passenger. I am also thankful for the professionalism and capabilities of Captain Sullenberger, FO Skiles and FAs Dent, Dail and Welsh. They certainly did our profession proud, and they saved my life.”