Bob Collins
By way of Twitter, here’s an image of the plane that crashed into the Hudson River today.
What’s amazing to me is the lack of damage to the airplane which, when all is said and done, is simply thin-skinned aluminum.
3 pm. – It was an Airbus 320. How fast was it going? The takeoff speed for an A320 is about 170 mph, depending on how heavy it was. About 300 were said to be on board.
3:04 p.m. – Here’s live video from WABC in New York.
3:05 p.m. – An eyewitness says the plane did not have its landing gear down. “This pilot is amazing how he brought that plane down.
3:07 p.m. – The FAA confirms the plane’s engines were “disabled by a bird strike.” Everyone appears to have survived. The plane — US Airways Flight 1549 — was enroute to Charlotte.
3:12 p.m. – This Wikipedia page has some images of the effect of other bird strikes on aircraft.
3:18 p.m. – Here’s the flight log:
via Flightaware.com
3:21 p.m. – Here’s a list of significant airplane-bird strike incidents.
A similar bird-ingestion incident occurred at LaGuardia in 2003
04 September 2003. A Fokker 100 struck a flock of at least 5 Canada geese over runway shortly after takeoff at LaGuardia Airport (NY), ingesting 1 or 2 geese into #2 engine. Engine vibration occurred. Pilot was unable to shut engine down with the fuel cutoff lever so fire handle was pulled and engine finally shut down, but vibration continued. The flight was diverted to nearby JFK International Airport where a landing was made. The NTSB found a 20- by 36-inch wide depression on right side of nose behind radome. Maximum depth was 4 inches. Impact marks on right wing. A fan blade separated from the disk and penetrated the fuselage. Several fan blades were deformed. Holes were found in the engine cowling. Remains were recovered and identified by Wildlife Services.
3:26 p.m.– This YouTube video shows what happens when a single bird is ingested into a jet engine.
3:29 p.m. — More images from today’s crash via this Flickr photostream.
3:34 p.m. – Closer to home, this newspaper article details a bird strike in Minnesota that led to a private plane to crash during a routine training flight from St. Paul to Grand Rapids.
