I was glad to her that they all passengers and crew members survived.

What a fantastic job by the flight crew, and the rescuers.

A perfect water landing! He couldn't have done better if the plane had had pontoons.

This photo really says it all: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/01/15/us/20090115-PLANECRASH_index.html

Give the pilot and crew a belt, a raise and a vacation anywhere!

Sue

Great picture Sue.
I wonder how long it floated for. Maybe they were even able to tow it to shore before it sank.

word on the web is that the pilot is an "old pro" ex F4 pilot.
as a survival issue,contary to the the panic and trample fears that abound it seems like most people stayed fairly calm.

I don't know how long it floated, but I was watching news clips. It seemed to be up for a while, because as the news program progressed, they were showing different clips. Lots of boats moving around as the plane gently settled. It was also tilted, and I wonder if, at that section of the river, the wingtip might have been resting on the bottom?

BZ to the crew is right!!

I REALLY hope they tout the whole crew on the news. The pilot did an amazing job getting the plane down safely, and kudos to the crew for keeping the passengers orderly. We ALL know how this could have gone; the crew of this aircraft should be commended for their bravery. Thats the stuff heros are made of, friends!

I can assure you the plane never touched the bottom - the river is quite deep there as it's right where the cruise ships come in and out. In fact, the plane continued to drift south with the tide throughout the rescue. It's currently reported to be still in the water and tied up at the marina at the World Financial Center waiting for the investigators to go through it.

Big kudos should also go to the ferry captains at NY Waterway. Their main terminal is just a few blocks from where the plane went down, and they were very quick to begin a rescue operation on their own. There was also a shot of a Circle Line boat that appeared to be trying to stabilize the aircraft as it sunk lower into the water. I believe NYPD also deployed rescue swimmers from a helo very quickly - before they had boats on scene.

All in all a job well done, and a whole lot of luck. I can't imagine they cleared the George Washington Bridge by all that much on the way down. I'm sure Doug will have some interesting data to take away that might help in the future. I hope for all of us he gets to talk to the pilots and crew.

The pilots skill probably had very little to do with getting the aircraft down and completing a successful ditching. The Airbus A320 has a very sophisticated Fly By Wire FBW care free handling computer system flight controls, which would have taken over from the pilot if any pilot error was made during the ditching. The system would have corrected any potential pilot errors during the ditching maneuver. This probably had a lot to do with achieving the minimum airspeed without stalling the aircraft for the ditching hence reducing the kinetic energy of the aircraft during the crash landing. The fact the Airbus A320 also didn't break up during the ditching is what saved these passengers lives. No doubt though the pilot will become a National hero.

It does go to show though that a airliner crash can be survivalable as long as your flying in the right airliner especially the more modern ones which have care free handling.

Okay. . .how does that system perform with two dead engines.

The A320 may be a great aircraft, but the pilot used that great Fly By Wire system to put the plane in the river, the system didn't do it on its own.

Noteworthy is the fact that FDNY & EMS played a major part as always. It appears that the Fireboat that was on station was the McKean, a retired boat used, I believe, as a museum of sorts and normally staffed by retirees, IIRC. If so, the McKean was reported to have had the plane tethered to it to prevent sinking. Kudos to all involved for averting what could have been a major tragedy and loss of life.