Tag: flight 1549 View All Tags
Tags: Chesley Sullenberger / US Airways / Flight 1549 / LGA / Airplane News / → All Tags
Business As Usual At US Airways As Captain Sully Flies Again
He got a book deal, he met the president, he got the key to the city and now Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is getting the keys to his airplane back. The hero pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, which landed in the Hudson River after goose strikes knocked out the plane's engines, returns to work today at US Airways and will fly on his old route between LGA and Charlotte.
It's been almost ten whole months since the accident, and US Airways is obviously ready to resume business as usual. Sully will not only fly the same LaGuardia-to-Charlotte route that was Flight 1549, but will do it with the same first officer, Jeffrey Skiles. Now we're all for welcoming Sully back to the skies, especially since he'd be the pilot you'd want to have in control in case anything goes wrong, but piecing together much of the same scene from the accident doesn't make avoiding stress and flashbacks any easier.
Tags: Fires / Flight 1549 / Myrtle Beach Travel / → All Tags
Flight 1549 Golf Trip Thwarted Again, This Time By Myrtle Beach Fires
We knew Myrtle Beach would be hot this season but we never anticipated this. A dangerous coastal wildfire ripped through North Myrtle Beach early Thursday, destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands to evacuate from this beach community.
The blaze jumped the busy six-lane Coastal Bays Parkway on Wednesday, stopping not far from the Intracoastal Waterway. Firefighters were expecting the waterway to act as a natural firebreak, protecting the larger city of Myrtle Beach.
A gray-white smoke had engulfed restaurant row between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach on Wednesday evening. It looked like a winter fog, with car headlights and neon signs peeking through the haze.
Fortunately no one has been injured yet although the fires are predicted to get worse as the day goes on.
Also in danger are the area's numerous golf courses which are a heavy draw for tourists. And in a freaky "Final Destination" sort of twist, a group of six golfing buddies who were aboard the US Airways Flight 1549 plane when it crash-landed into the Hudson River in January were headed to Myrtle Beach this week for their annual trip.
Tags: Flight 1549 / Airline News / US Airways / LGA / → All Tags
The Saga of the Crew of Flight 1549 Continues
There are no losers in the story of US Airways Flight 1549, except for maybe AIG, who was the insurer of the plane. We all know of Captain "Sully" Sullenberger's honors and invites, and even his recent traitor turn to flying Virgin America, but on Wednesday at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, the stream of awards flowed on to his co-pilot, Jeffrey Skiles, the LaGuardia air traffic controllers who handled the situation, and the rest of the flight crew.
At the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Skiles accepted awards for himself and Sully, and for Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail--the flight attendants who kept their cool during the ordeal. It was the account of chief LaGuardia air traffic controller Bill McLoughlin, however, which really brought on the waterworks and gave us another angle for marveling at the series of events:
Tags: Travel News Briefs / Deltalina / Delta Airlines / Lufthansa / Southwest / Bar Refaeli / Flight 1549 / → All Tags
Deltalina Returns to Launch Delta's New Magazine
With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.
· Deltalina Launches Sky Magazine: Delta Airlines will be getting a new magazine, Sky, which is "on newstands, onboard and online" April 1. There's a launch party on Feb. 24th and Deltalina beckons you to attend. If you dare. [Delta Invite]
· Southwest Blog Readers Upset Over "SI One": While Bar looks hot on the side of the Southwest SI One plane some commenters are arguing that a lady in a bikini is not very family-friendly. Also, we're sure Kyla Ebberts would like to weigh in on this. [Southwest Blog]
· Andiamos! Lufthansa Italia Now In Flight: Flights from Milan to Barcelona and Paris have begun on Lufthansa. Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid, London Heathrow and Lisbon will all be added by the end of March. [Travel Weekly]
· A Love Song for Sully: A singer-songwriter aboard Flight 1549 has penned a song for Capt. Sully and the crew called, "Send Another Prayer." Emma Sophina is now hoping to get a record deal out of her ordeal. [Rolling Stone]
Tags: Accidents / Flight 1549 / Travel News / → All Tags
Water Landings Are So Hot Right Now
Do we need to retrofit airplanes with floats and return them to parking at the docks outside of LaGuardia's Marine Air Terminal? With all the hoopla over US Airways' Hudson River miracle and now the new story of another successful water ditching in Australia, we're thinking that bringing floaties on our next flight isn't such a bad idea.
Just hours after the 60 Minutes interview with US Airways Flight 1549 pilot/hero Captain "Sully" Sullenberger aired, a private jet carrying five passengers and two crew was forced to ditch into the water off the coast of Darwin, Australia. Although this is not a case of freak bird intervention but good old malfunction, the story is still oddly similar to that of the US Airways flight.
In fact, the pilot of the Aussie jet, whose quick thinking saved the lives of all onboard and landed them close enough to walk to shore, has been dubbed "Sully Lite." That's almost like adding insult to injury, essentially making this hero pilot out to be like the diet version of another hero pilot. Silly Australia; don't they realize that as long unavoidable water landings end happily, that there's plenty of room in this world for several pilot heros?
Related Stories:
· Water Landing for Australia Plane [BBC News]
· Australia: Pilot saves 5 after ditching plane in sea [CNN]
· Flight 1549 Coverage [Jaunted]
[Video still: BBC News]
Tags: Flight 1549 / US Airways / Accidents / Super Bowl / Frequent Flyer Programs / → All Tags
Exactly How Much Compensation are Flight 1549 Survivors Entitled To?
The goodies are coming to survivors of U.S. Airways flight 1549 in dribs and drabs. First, everybody got a check for $5,000 of mad money, along with reimbursement of the cost of their tickets. Now, the New York Post is reporting that they've all been automatically upgraded to Chairman's Preferred status, the airline's highest level of frequent flier privilege. The catch? They only get it through March 2010.
Tags: Airline Safety / Flight 1549 / American Airlines / → All Tags
Women and Children First on American Airlines 767s
Here's an entry for the history of ironic coincidences: Just two weeks after US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River, necessitating the emergency use of the aircraft's life rafts, American Airlines has confessed to having not enough life raft space for all passengers on their Boeing 767s.
It's a true Titanic case; first there must be a disaster in order for safety procedures and equipment to get the closer examination they need. Although American claims that this admission has nothing to do with the "Miracle on the Hudson," it nonetheless means that the airline must keep the affected flights below capacity so that should a water landing occur, everyone will be have a personal little spot on the rafts. Usually the 767s fly Transatlantic to Europe and over the Gulf to Latin America, so it's not like this is a small issue.
How will they fix this, you wonder? Not by redesigning the airplane or removing seats, because that would mean extra spending and loss of revenue, but by installing larger life rafts. American's 767s may soon have some seriously spacious safety rafts, but it will be longer than that before we can get the Titanic comparison out of our head.
Related Stories:
· American Airlines, short of life raft space on Boeing 767s, will limit passengers [Star-Telegram]
· American Airlines coverage [Jaunted]
· Flight 1529 coverage [Jaunted]
[Image: vidiot]
Tags: Flight 1549 / US Airways / Accidents / Chesley Sullenberger / → All Tags
Capt. Sully Gets Key to His City; Passengers Still Waiting on Luggage
It's a Sully party! Flight 1549 captain Chesley S. "Sully" Sullenberger collected a key to his hometown of Danville, California this weekend in a small-town ceremony complete with marching band, color guard and bagpiper.
Sullenberger, who attended the Inauguration this past week on the President's request, is still waiting to tell his story until the National Transportation Safety Board has given him leave. But for his home of 13 years, he made a brief speech, declaring on behalf of his crew that "we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do." Hopefully he'll have more details when he sits down with Katie Couric on "60 Minutes" next week.
Sullenberger finally made it home, and Flight 1549 passengers might even see their luggage return home this year: The unlucky suitcases have been removed from the plane and taken to a processing facility, where they have been frozen and then will be cleaned and dried. Well, at least passengers will have a really interesting souvenir.
Related Stories:
· Danville honors hero US Airways pilot 'Sully' with small-town celebration [San Jose Mercury-News]
· 'Sully' Receives Hero's Welcome In Hometown [The AeroNews Network]
· Crash Investigators 'Check' Recovered Bags [NY Post]
· Geese Still Not Cleared of Wrongdoing But Ailing Engine Could Be to Blame [Jaunted]
· TK [Jaunted]
[Photo: ingridtaylar]
Tags: Travel News Briefs / TSA / Airports / Flight 1549 / Crazy Passengers / → All Tags
Can You Bring Pepper Spray on a Flight?
With so much travel news flying around, we don't always have time to give every story big play. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.
· What's the Deal with Pepper Spray?: The other day a Southwest flight taking off from Sacramento and heading to Burbank had to make a emergency return after pilots reported smoke in the cockpit about 20 minutes after take-off. It was later discovered that pepper spray packed into one of the checked bags below the plane had accidentally gone off.
Just in case you plan on traveling with your own pepper spray, it is allowed on flights in checked luggage. However, says the TSA, it must have a working safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. [MSNBC]
· Airports Report Drop in Travelers: Less and less people are traveling through these airports--LA, Fort Wayne, Indiana, San Jose and Arkansas.
· Flight 1549 Updates: Spirit Airlines was about to charge two Flight 1549 passengers $90 a piece for not using the return leg of their ticket. The reason why those men were on Flight 1549 in the first place was bc Spirit cancelled their flight. Doh. Now Spirit, after a Consumerist intervention, Spirit says it will not charge the two men. Meanwhile, the left engine has washed up. [Consumerist, NY Post]
· Crazy Passenger Walks on Wing: A man at Phoenix airport opened an exit door after the plane had pulled up to the gate and attempted to walk on the wing. Yup. He was arrested. [Fox News]
[Photo: Pig Monkey]
Tags: Flight 1549 / US Airways / Accidents / → All Tags
Geese Still Not Cleared of Wrongdoing But Ailing Engine Could Be to Blame
After it had been assured that everyone on US Airways Flight 1549 had been safely rescued, the next logical step was to demonize the Canada geese which are thought to have disabled both engines of the Airbus A320. Indeed, the NY Post headlines practically encouraged the public to pick up guns and kill them on sight.
But while everyone loves a scapebird, a Jan. 13 incident on Flight 1549 two days before the New York-Charlotte route landed in the Hudson, suggests the plane might have more problems than "The Birds."
According to CNN, passengers on the Tuesday afternoon flight say they heard a series of loud bangs "like luggage was hitting the side" and were told the engine compressor was stalling. One of them, John Hodock, said he even saw fire coming out of the engine. The pilot initially announced an emergency landing would have to be made, but the plane righted itself and went on its merry way.
Tags: Flight 1549 / US Airways / Accidents / PR / → All Tags
What's the PR Value of This U.S. Airways Miracle Crash Anyway?
We can't stop thinking about Thursday's U.S. Airways crash-landing - in which all of zero people were killed in the plane's violent plunge into the Hudson River in freezing temperatures - because it's simply an incredible story. To achieve such a positive outcome required both the amazing skills of the crew and a generous measure of good luck. And now that it's all over and everybody's okay, it's fair to think about the PR value of the incident to U.S. Airways.
Tags: Flight 1549 / US Airways / Accidents / Inauguration 2009 / → All Tags
A Brilliant Idea for Obama: Invite U.S. Airways Captain and Crew to the Inauguration
There's simply no question that Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the captain who guided U.S. Airways flight 1549 to an absolutely perfect water landing in the Hudson River Thursday after it was disabled by a flock of birds, is in every way a kick-ass dude and a hero for the ages. But he also had a crew whose quick thinking and bold action helped ensure that every one of the 155 people on board made it out alive, an outcome that seemed all but impossible to me when I first heard of the accident and saw the images on TV.
We received a tip that a New York millionaire and frequent U.S. Airways passenger named Michael Savage has offered to take Captain Sullenberger to the presidential inauguration as his guest, and it got us thinking. Sullenberger shouldn't have to rely on the generosity of Mr. Savage, because if President-elect Obama is as cool as he seems to be, he'll personally invite the entire flight crew to join him as guests of honor for the big day. Think about it: this crew represents the very best of our country, selflessly working together against seemingly impossible odds to save the lives of others. They're just the kind of working-class heroes presidents love to trot out during State of the Union Addresses and such. It'll be perfect.
It's just a hunch, but I wouldn't be surprised if Captain Sullenberger was joined by First Officer Jeffrey Skiles and flight attendants Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh, and Sheila Dail at the inauguration this Tuesday. If anybody represents the hope embodied by the campaign, it's this bunch. Here's hoping Mr. Obama is thinking the same thing.
You heard it here first.
[Photo: LA Times]
Related Stories
· Two-Minute Bio: Chesley B. Sullenberger III [Time]
· U.S. Aviation Safety Streak Still Alive [Jaunted]
