A plane crashed into the Hudson river today...

[draggar]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/15/new...ash/index.html

I think the most amazing part is that everyone survived and it also sounds like there were no serious injuries.

My hat is off to those pilots - I want their names so if I ever fly, I want to make sure they are the pilots, I really hope they get a commendation.

[Amina516]

That is insane. Im glad everyones ok. Id be freaked out enough to not fly at all anymore.


That pilot rocks.

[mattm04]

I'm amazed it didn't sink right away. Anyone know how deep the water was?

[draggar]

I'm amazed it didn't sink right away. Anyone know how deep the water was?

I think the Hudson, especially near NYC, is deep enough for a plane to sink completely in (it looks like it landed in the middle of the river). Even people in the exit rows deserve some kudos - they got those doors open and everyone was able to get out quickly before the plane sank.

Edit: Also to the ferry boat captains and crews along with the Coast Guard. Excellent job all!!

Edit: Pictures show of the sunk plane - only the roof of the cockpit is near the top and the tip of one wing is above the water a little.

It's also amazing how quickly the people of NYC respond to something like this. Most times it seems that everyone would rather step on your face than say hi to you but when something happens they all band together and allow emergency workers to do their jobs (clearing paths on the streets for emergency vehicles).

[AirHostess]

Hmmm and idiot passengers STILL didn't watch the safety demo today

Well done to the flight attendants, our extensive training pays off.

[Dreamstalker]

I find it amazing that nobody actually panicked (according to some survivor interviews on the news) and everyone helped each other to get out. The pilot (former fighter pilot IIRC) made sure everyone was off the plane before bailing himself.

[KiaKat]

The Hudson is pretty damned deep - and salt water. So it's possible that the water temps were below freezing. The particular area that the plane hit in was right near the docks for the USS Intrepid, and where the cruise ships dock, to give you an idea of the depth.

It was a very surreal experience to turn on the news and see OH! PLANE! HUDSON! WTF?!

They ended up tying it near Stuyvesent High School (if you remember the white bridge that was all over TV during 9/11, that's the footbridge to the HS). I'm a bit surprised they didn't pull it right out of the water, and that they didn't push it to the Jersey side, but I'm sure they had their reasons.

The pilot was very smart to make the decision to land in the river rather than try to go back to Laguardia. He would have been flying over some of the most densly populated areas of the city if he'd done that, and risked hitting various skyscrapers. My hat is off to him, and I'm thoroughly impressed with his actions post-crash.

[Boredom]

Now they say that birds got sucked into two of the engines. poor birds...

[LibraryLady]

The Hudson is about 55ft. deep where the plane came down.

Actually, if this sort of thing had to happen, it couldn't have happened in a better place. The river traffic in that area is pretty thick. There are Circle Line boats, water taxis from Jersey and, because of the passenger ship terminal, Coast Guard and police vessels out the Yin-Yang. Response was rapid because may boats were already on the scene before the accident.