Saturday, January 17, 2009

Praying For Big, Fat Honkers

I firmly believe that pilots often get a raw deal in aircraft accident investigations. Especially in the bad crashes, where there's no pilot surviving to defend him/herself, it's all too easy to write uncertainty off to "pilot error."

That's why I fervently hope they find the calling card of big, fat Canadian geese in both engines of US Airways flight 1549 when they're dredged up out of the Hudson River.

The airmanship displayed by the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, was one of those good news stories that we all need, especially with all the bad news stories that swarm us today. The way he set that Airbus down in the Hudson to keep it intact and allow the passengers and crew to escape unharmed is just this side of miraculous.

All that remains now is to confirm that bird strikes indeed crippled both engines to cinch the deal. What worries me is that even great pilots can make mistakes, the all too common "pilot error." The flight recorders and the recovery of the engines awaits to seal the verdict of this amazing pilot. I'm sure pulling for him and praying for big, fat honkers.

1 comment:

penso logo existo said...

I agree with you. It's very easy to write about a pilot mistake. But I think that the pilot hasn't a suicidal tendency to do something wrong at the flight propositally. They have to be proud and we have to clap our hands for them, he was a hero! (forgive me my bad english. I'm a brasilian girl).