The folks on US Airways Flight 1549 were lucky their hero pilot can't afford to retire just yet

[thatcrazycajun]

Please don't misunderstand; I am absolutely thrilled that Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III was able to save every soul on board his US Airways plane two days ago when geese flew into not one, but two of its jet engines and caused him to ditch it in the Hudson River. And I have nothing but admiration for him, his flight crew and all the first-responders who managed to get all 155 people off the plane and safely ashore as it sank into what must have been sub-freezing, strong-current waters (as I have reason to know, having been a NYC resident through seven winters myself).

But the so-called "miracle" of Thursday's controlled crash was only miraculous in that the passengers and crew were lucky beyond belief that Capt. Sullenberger was assigned to be at the controls, instead of some younger, less seasoned pilot. The rest was skill and experience on the captain's part in getting that aircraft to a safe aquatic landing.

They were also lucky that Congress raised the minimum retirement age for pilots last year by five years, from 60 to 65, and that this happened when it did and not three years from now, or Sullenberger might not have been flying that day at all. This story from Mother Jones magazine's website reports on why he and many other older pilots are still in the air by necessity of their employer's disgraceful financial malfeasance. US Airways needs to recognize that letting this courageous and still-sharp professional suffer for their mismanagement of their pilot pension plan would be a PR disaster of the highest order for them...not to mention a scandal to the jaybirds (whom we should hope LaGuardia Airport does a better job henceforth of keeping out of their flight paths).

Comments

[anaisdjuna.livejournal.com]

My dad is 70 & he's still piloting. As long as they aren't going to have a heart attack and drop out of the sky, they can still see the instrument panels and can keep up with the changing tech... I'll take experience for the win.

[trektone.livejournal.com]

Am I misreading his age with regard to the retirement cut-offs, both old and new?

Anyway, the city where he lives, Danville, is in the SF Bay Area. Yay for the local guy! Fwiw, that city is one of the more affluent around here. So while the mishandled pension issue is still disgraceful, I think he and his family are doing rather better than "getting by."

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I apologize for the confusion; I have revised the paragraph in my entry that probably caused it. Sullenberger is 57 as far as I can see, and might or might not have retired by now even without the rule change. And it seems to me that if he does indeed live in a "more affluent" part of your metro area, assuming he is as well-off as some of his neighbors (not necessarily a given), that he would have retired by now if he could unless he's still doing it simply for love of the job.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Just thought I should share something I noticed when looking at a timeline/map on the BBC News website. When the bird strike was reported, they were already over the Bronx, despite it only being a minute or so into the flight. While I'm sure they do their best to keep the number of birds down within flight paths, it's not like they were struck at the airport itself and I would guess that the farther a plane is from the airport itself, the less likely they are to have control over the environment.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

You make a valid point, and I acknowledge that the airport may not necessarily be to blame if the strike was that far from their grounds. But bear in mind that there may have been a time lag between when the strike actually happened and when it was detected and reported; inspection of the crashed plane and the black box may determine this.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

It's very likely that there was a lag. But think of the geography again, when you take off from LaGuardia, you essentially take off directly over water. How can we control the flight patterns of birds over water?

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Sully is only 57; no first-line captain in his right mind would even *think* of retiring before he had to. While I agree that the airline industry in general is FUBAR (with the possible exception of Southwest), Sully's not flying because he has to. Look at his record; he can basically write his own ticket, do whatever he wants. He's flying because he *loves it*. And that is the best reason of all.

And remember what I said in the toast. This was no miracle. This is a measure of the fact that American ATP's (and flight attendants) get the snot trained out of'em before they're ever allowed aboard the real thing. The luck was that the Hudson is shallow there, and that he managed to snag himself a fat sandbar... but still. You fly like you train, and when the goose hit the fan, the training kicked in.

But, no. There may be some squeaky wheels that would like to hang it up but can't because US Despair screwed their financial pooch. But frankly? (a), Sully ain't one of'em, and (b) if I knew it? I wouldn't fly with'em.

As for bird control.... ha ha ha ha ha ha. Even if there were methods to keep'em under control? they wouldn't be allowed; birds are more important to the environment than planeloads of people, you know. (/sarcasm) I think the fact that while the engines executed the HCF instruction they didn't throw fan blades into the cabin, and that the controls didn't freeze up with out engine power, *and* that there haven't been more such instances in places that ought to be even bigger bird havens, like, say, LAX? San Francisco? is a testament to just how well we're doing.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I don't think a 30 year old would have enough hours to take the captain's seat on a commercial passenger airliner. I've seen pilots come into fly freight at Zantop with that goal of building up hours so they could qualify for big airline companies. Others, had been with Zantop long time because they like that routine and experience.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

From what I understand (and believe me, the story is still taking considerable chunks of airtime on NYC news radio), the birds were encountered outside of LGA's controlled space. Also, I'm still given to believe that it was geese, not jaybirds. Then again, I haven't seen flocks' worth of feathers, so maybe it was the naked ones...