Editor,
I am about to start flight school. In a few months, I will be a pilot free to fly a limited number of aircraft all over the USA with great enthusiasm.
I was encouraged by what happened today in the Hudson River less than a couple of miles from where the Twin Towers once stood in New York City. The Airbus A320 Airliner with 155 people on board ditched into the Hudson River and entered the water at 160 miles per hour, give or take 20, in a way that slowed the jet and kept the nose up and the wing tips out of the water until it was floating with the river current. The passengers gathered on the wings of the jet and some were directly taken aboard lifeboats from a passenger ferry full of people who witnessed the event. All passengers and crew were immediately rescued by New York City heroes, some who were on the scene within a few minutes. It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
That pilot is a hero with few equals. Not just for his quick thinking and piloting skills, but he was the last person to leave the airliner after making two passes through to make sure that no one else was still on board.
I want to learn to fly like Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, and I would like to think that I would do what he did when life and duty called.
Al Teal
Hinesville
I am about to start flight school. In a few months, I will be a pilot free to fly a limited number of aircraft all over the USA with great enthusiasm.
I was encouraged by what happened today in the Hudson River less than a couple of miles from where the Twin Towers once stood in New York City. The Airbus A320 Airliner with 155 people on board ditched into the Hudson River and entered the water at 160 miles per hour, give or take 20, in a way that slowed the jet and kept the nose up and the wing tips out of the water until it was floating with the river current. The passengers gathered on the wings of the jet and some were directly taken aboard lifeboats from a passenger ferry full of people who witnessed the event. All passengers and crew were immediately rescued by New York City heroes, some who were on the scene within a few minutes. It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
That pilot is a hero with few equals. Not just for his quick thinking and piloting skills, but he was the last person to leave the airliner after making two passes through to make sure that no one else was still on board.
I want to learn to fly like Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, and I would like to think that I would do what he did when life and duty called.
Al Teal
Hinesville