[Blake]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Emergency officials are responding to a downed plane in the Hudson River in New York City, according to the city fire and police departments.
The plane entered the water Thursday afternoon following a failed takeoff, the FAA says.

US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 headed from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, was down in the river after a failed takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The U.S. Coast Guard said units were also responding, and a ferry on site was dropping life jackets into the water.

The plane approached the water at a gradual angle and made a big splash, according to a witness watching from an office building.

"It wasn't going particularly fast. It was a slow contact with the water that it made," said the witness, Ben VonKlemperer.

An Airbus A320 can hold a maximum of 179 passengers and a flight crew of two, depending on the configuration.

damn birds. for all those unfamiliar with flying, bird strikes are not fun. this plane appeared to have had birds sucked into both engines, which is pretty much an automatic emergency. those planes are designed to be able to fly on 1 engine, but it won't fly on 0 . i had a bird strike during flight training, but fortunately it only hit the wing, did minimal damage, and was able to land safely. tune into CNN for live video.

[Blake]

oh and everyone survived the accident. big kudos to the pilot for successfully ditching the plane safely and in one piece.

[chuck92103]

Originally Posted by Blake

oh and everyone survived the accident. big kudos to the pilot for successfully ditching the plane safely and in one piece.

+1 Amazing.

[bmstyle71]

What makes it worse is almost all bird strikes happen right after departure or on final approach meaning you are in close proximity to the ground. Very good pilotS, handled it the way they should. Bravo.
This dude is like 'I thought it was a terrorist attack' GEEEEEEZ everything is a terrorist attack, the birds were trained by Al Qaeda and Hamas for suicidal missions.

[MJC///M3]

just confirmed everyone got off okay!

that pilot made an incredible landing.

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by MJC///M3

just confirmed everyone got off okay!

that pilot made an incredible landing.

pilotS.** lol

[Blake]

Originally Posted by bmstyle71

What makes it worse is almost all bird strikes happen right after departure or on final approach meaning you are in close proximity to the ground. Very good pilotS, handled it the way they should. Bravo.
This dude is like 'I thought it was a terrorist attack' GEEEEEEZ everything is a terrorist attack, the birds were trained by Al Qaeda and Hamas for suicidal missions.

yep, my bird strike happened while doing touch and go's. birds love to hover around the approach and departure ends of the field. oh well, i got a good lesson in NTSB reporting.

related to this flight, looks like the pilots made BRILLIANT decisions in this accident. he took off, sucked in some birds, then steered the plane down the river to ditch. if he didn't do that, he would have hit densely populated land areas in NYC. big ups to the pilots

[MCS]

wow - watching this outside the office window

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by Blake

yep, my bird strike happened while doing touch and go's. birds love to hover around the approach and departure ends of the field. oh well, i got a good lesson in NTSB reporting.

related to this flight, looks like the pilots made BRILLIANT decisions in this accident. he took off, sucked in some birds, then steered the plane down the river to ditch. if he didn't do that, he would have hit densely populated land areas in NYC. big ups to the pilots

We were talking off from Pensacola one time, I was the PF (pilot flying for those people who don't know, not you blake lol) As soon as he says v1 rotate I pull back, the front wheel gets up and a flock of birds fly across the runway. Son of a... waited half a second made sure the mains were off as well, then yanked the bitch up to Vx and missed them lol. Passengers are all like 'omg what a horrible take off' shut up bitch, I just saved your ass.

[Greeney]

Huge props to these pilots! I have encountered a bird strike while doing my flight training as well. On my departure roll in a C172, aircraft was vibrating and bloody but I made it around the pattern without an issue. I hope they keep their jobs, awesome work to the Cactus crew!

[Blake]

Originally Posted by Greeney

Huge props to these pilots! I have encountered a bird strike while doing my flight training as well. On my departure roll in a C172, aircraft was vibrating and bloody but I made it around the pattern without an issue. I hope they keep their jobs, awesome work to the Cactus crew!

where did the bird hit? i'm guessing it struck the prop because of the vibrating.

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by Greeney

Huge props to these pilots! I have encountered a bird strike while doing my flight training as well. On my departure roll in a C172, aircraft was vibrating and bloody but I made it around the pattern without an issue. I hope they keep their jobs, awesome work to the Cactus crew!

Why wouldn't they. Well as long as they pass their drug/alcohol test after this lol.

[Greeney]

Originally Posted by Blake

where did the bird hit? i'm guessing it struck the prop because of the vibrating.

I smacked a seagull with the prop on the downstroke, luckily that threw the bird to the runway instead of over the windscreen.

[mpimping]

everybody was saved

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by Greeney

I smacked a seagull with the prop on the downstroke, luckily that threw the bird to the runway instead of over the windscreen.

Yeah you're lucky, some people end up eating the bird as it goes through the windshield.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by bmstyle71

Yeah you're lucky, some people end up eating the bird as it goes through the windshield.

yea that's always one of my biggest fears when below 2000agl.

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by Blake

yea that's always one of my biggest fears when below 2000agl.

Lol some people say 'what kind of technology is this where a 100 + million dollar sophisticated jet is brought down by geese?'..... Where do you start explaining to these people?

[its ray den]

chicken wire over the air inlet of the jet sounds like a possible solution.

[pmeloche]

Originally Posted by bmstyle71

We were talking off from Pensacola one time, I was the PF (pilot flying for those people who don't know, not you blake lol) As soon as he says v1 rotate I pull back, the front wheel gets up and a flock of birds fly across the runway. Son of a... waited half a second made sure the mains were off as well, then yanked the bitch up to Vx and missed them lol. Passengers are all like 'omg what a horrible take off' shut up bitch, I just saved your ass.

You rotate at V1. Aren't you supposed to rotate at Vr? Or maybe the calculated Vr for this flight was equal to V1? V1 is supposed to be the speed at which the pilot decides a GO/NOGO for takeoff.

Anyway, congratulations to the pilots who saved everyone on that flight.

[bmstyle71]

Originally Posted by its ray den

chicken wire over the air inlet of the jet sounds like a possible solution.

You should patent that and take it to the FAA. lmao

[F104]

Originally Posted by Blake

yep, my bird strike happened while doing touch and go's. birds love to hover around the approach and departure ends of the field. oh well, i got a good lesson in NTSB reporting.

related to this flight, looks like the pilots made BRILLIANT decisions in this accident. he took off, sucked in some birds, then steered the plane down the river to ditch. if he didn't do that, he would have hit densely populated land areas in NYC. big ups to the pilots

Agree - and have had bird ingress too / total engine failure on the 104, but on short final. Nevertheles I took out all the centre line landing lights, and ruined the plane. So being exactly on course is not always that good... (plus the no flap 240kts+ approach)

I find the reporting a bit OTT though, this plane has been floating for 20 minutes with vessels around it, and it was suggested people were still inside?

[Blake]

Originally Posted by bmstyle71

Lol some people say 'what kind of technology is this where a 100 + million dollar sophisticated jet is brought down by geese?'..... Where do you start explaining to these people?

well it's simple really...with a jet airplane flying forward around 200KIAS towards a bird, that bird is actually headed towards the plane REALLY fast. now you add a jet engine rotating around 26,000RPM + a bird headed at it at 200+mph = the problem is obvious.