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Miracle on Hudson River: God Uses Pilot’s Gifts
By Julie | January 16, 2009
I am still stunned after reading about the plane that landed yesterday on the Hudson River. What could have been a tragedy turned into a miracle. Putting the plane and passengers, on every major news venue, while dubbing the pilot a hero. Indeed he is!
Here is a news snippet from Yahoo News:
NEW YORK – Everything about the fate of Flight 1549 seemed like a million-to-1 shot – a flock of birds crossing a jetliner’s path and taking out both engines, a safe landing in the Hudson River by a former fighter pilot.
The pilot guided the hobbled US Airways jetliner over New York City and into the frigid river, with an impact one passenger described as little worse than a rear-end collision. All 155 on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank.
It was a chain of improbability. Birds tangle with airplanes regularly but rarely bring down commercial aircraft. Jet engines sometimes fail – but both at once? Pilots train for a range of emergencies, but few, if any, have ever successfully ditched a jet in one of the nation’s busiest waterways without any life-threatening injuries.
If the accident was hard to imagine, so was the result: Besides one victim with two broken legs, there were no other reports of serious injuries to the 155 people aboard.
US Airways Airbus A320, bound for Charlotte, N.C., took off from LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 p.m. Less than a minute later, the pilot reported a “double bird strike” and said he needed to return to LaGuardia, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Church said the controller told the pilot to divert to an airport in nearby Teterboro, N.J. It was not clear why the pilot, identified as Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III of Danville, Calif., did not land there and headed for the Hudson instead.
One ferry, the Thomas Jefferson of the company NY Waterway, arrived within minutes. Riders grabbed life vests and rope and tossed them to plane passengers in the water.
“They were cheering when we pulled up,” Capt. Vincent Lombardi. “People were panicking. They said, ‘Hurry up! Hurry up!’”
Two police scuba divers said they pulled a woman from a lifeboat “frightened out of her mind” and lethargic from hypothermia. Helen Rodriguez, a paramedic who was among the first to arrive at the scene, said she saw one woman with two broken legs.
Paramedics treated at least 78 patients, many for hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries, fire officials said. Some of the shivering survivors were swaddled in blankets, their feet and legs soaked.
The plane initially remained afloat but sank slowly as it drifted downriver. Gradually, only about half of the tail fin and rudder were above water.
One news report said the time of take off to the river landing was 3 minutes. I can’t even decide what I want to order in a restaurant in three minutes, but this pilot assessed the emergency and executed his plan in that space of time. His résumé is an impressive part of this story:
An official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still ongoing identified the pilot as Sullenberger. Sullenberger, 57, a former Air Force fighter pilot, has flown for US Airways for 29 years. He also runs a safety consulting firm.
To see more of his résumé here is his company’s website.
This miracle is a true example that when God gifts us, puts us on a path to develop our gifts, and leads the circumstances of our lives, well, he can use us to do miracles too. When most news stories just regurgitate depressing stories about the problems facing America, it’s nice to hear stories of heroism, lives saved, and a man’s talents truly being used to bless others!
To see some photos of the plane, click here.
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