A flock of geese or a bird strike may have brought down US Air Flight 1549. From Bloomberg:
A U.S. Airways Group Inc. jet bound from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, went down in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff today.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that all 148 passengers and five crew members were safe. Scott Stringer, Manhattan borough president, said the injured were taken to hospitals in New York and New Jersey.
Fire department boats and commuter ferries were dispatched to the scene near the West 50s. No structural damage was visible.
Flight 1549 went into the river about 3 p.m., the airline said. The pilot reported the plane hit a flock of geese, MSNBC said.
The plane, which city officials said was an Airbus A320, was submerged up to its windows as passengers scrambled to safety. It soon began sinking.
New York Waterway, which provides service from New Jersey to New York, dispatched four or five boats to the scene after a captain of one of them saw the plane go down, said Zaheer Aziz, a customer service representative for the company.
On the Net: Significant Bird Strikes
UPDATES: Pilot is a hero
- Pilot saves over 150 lives with ‘textbook ditching’ into the Hudson River
- Super Sully: how crash landing hero pulled off the incredible
- Pilot of Hudson Plane a LinkedIn Star
- Twitterer captures Hudson plane crash: Citizen journalism at the coal face of US Airways Airbus A320 crash
- Bird Hazard Is Persistent for Planes
- NY Mayor Honours Jet Crash Heroes: The Mayor of New York has honoured those who took part in the dramatic rescue of all 155 people after their plane landed on the city’s Hudson River.
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The news on the Hudson River bird strike crash today led me to do some research and I found that many industries and airports employ sonic bird repellers like this one: (http://www.bird-x.com/broadband-pro-p-11.html ) to prevent these types of accidents.
I’m not sure if one of these Bird-X units would have worked in this case, but its worth some thought.
Thanks for the information Ben!
While theoretically ultrasonic devices sound great, they are essentially ineffective in repelling birds. Birds have about the same range of hearing as humans. If we can’t hear it, they can’t hear it. I’ve actually taken photos of birds sitting atop ultrasonic devices.
Jennifer,
The unit I mentioned is a Sonic (audible) repeller, not ultrasonic.
I’d love to see some of the imagery you have. Email me intellecks ‘at ‘ gmail
I’m glad no one was hurt in the crash, sounds like the pilot did a great job