Air France flight crash

[SuperBuickGuy]

I don't see anything twilight zone going on, and there was no reason the plane had to crash if the pilots had taken the appropriate actions. They pulled it up into a stall, and kept it stalled until it smashed into the ocean. There were apparently 3 stall warnings that they did not acknowledge verbally. The only thing that makes sense is that for some reason they became disoriented, and thought that they were diving nose first at 11,000 fpm, and kept trying to pull up for that reason. Surely the instruments would clearly indicate that they were nose up instead of nose down though, which is what I don't get. If they'd put the nose down, picked up some speed and reduced the angle of attack to something where the airplane could generate lift again, I see no reason they couldn't have saved it.

I'd be very interested to see Captain Sullenberger's take on the actions of the crew. Apparently he trains pilots how to respond to emergency situations. I'd think his military background probably helped a lot in the Hudson River case, I wonder if any of the Air France pilots had any military history.

my wife pointed out that Capt. Sully had substantial experience in flying gliders - it was part of our on-going debate about what constitutes a miracle.

As far as French pilots having military history - they do.... get white handkerchief, attach to pole, wave vigorously at enemy.

[Silver68RT]

I think what Capt. Sully did was remarkable. He very quickly and accurately assessed his situation and his available options, taking into account a huge number of factors, and selected what was probably the only option that wouldn't have killed them all. He then executed his chosen course of action perfectly. You can't ask for more than that. I think calling it a miracle is a bit of an injustice, because I think all the credit belongs to Capt. Sully. If you contrast what he was faced with (near impossible situation, total loss of thrust, low altitude, in a major city) vs. what the Air France pilots started out with (failure of a sensor causing the auto pilot to shut off at 35,000 feet while cruising), I think it's clear that skill and good decision-making ability counts for a lot, and a bad decision can kill a hell of a lot of people.

[BangShift McT]

A lot of what contributed to Sullenberger's success was his experience with flying as well as gliding. He knew there was no way to make it to LaGuardia or Teterboro without wasting time doing the calculations. His glider experience is what kept the aircraft in one piece and floating when he splashed it.

[TheSilverBuick]

As far as French pilots having military history - they do.... get white handkerchief, attach to pole, wave vigorously at enemy.

Finally something in this thread we can agree on!