On September 8, Clint Eastwood's Miracle on the Hudson, a drama based on real events about the phenomenal pilot Chesley Sullenberger, played by Tom Hanks, will be released in Russian cinemas. In January 2009, Sullenberger landed an Airbus A320 on the Hudson River after both engines failed. On the eve of the premiere, Gazeta.Ru spoke with Sullenberger.

How do you rate the work of Tom Hanks?

- I think it's a great job, and not only because the external similarity was achieved. It was obvious to me that, in preparation for the role, he watched a lot of documentary material, listened to audio recordings, watched the interviews that I gave. He is one of those who consider acting as a technology, treats roles very painstakingly, and this made it possible to make the hero as alive as possible. He physically, mentally and emotionally got used to this role. Tom told me how difficult it is for him to evaluate his game from the outside, but he managed to capture and convey the tension and drama both at the moment of landing on the water and during the investigation (which was conducted by the Transport Safety Commission. - Gazeta.Ru).

Chesley Sullenberger

Chuck Burton/AP

- When Clint Eastwood decided to make a film about this story, how did you react?

— The producers offered to turn my book The Highest Duty into a screenplay in 2010. However, it took some time before this script appealed to Clint Eastwood and he began to shoot the film. When it became known that Clint was doing this, I was very happy - it was worth the wait to find a director who would embody this story in a worthy way.

- How do you feel about the fact that, despite the heroism you have shown, you actually ended up on trial?

“Of course, it was a difficult situation.

I think that the commission was trying to get to the bottom of the truth, whatever it was, not caring too much about my professional reputation, and the rest of the defendants each pursued their own goals.

For many, I could be the scapegoat. But I had no concern that I would be found guilty of what had happened. My only concern was whether I had really assessed the situation correctly and whether I had made the right choice.

— Excuse me, but I can’t help but ask how you managed to react so quickly in that extreme situation?

- I was the person who was responsible, I was the commander of the ship. My position was called “aircraft commander”. So I took action immediately, even though it was a situation we had never encountered before. In addition, these training simulators of ours do not teach you how to land on water. The only training we received on water landing was a theoretical discussion in flight school. And yet, for the first time in history, we landed a plane on the water and did it right in just 209 seconds. At the same time, I was absolutely sure that I could do it. It never occurred to me that I would die that day. I didn't think that I couldn't win. However, I did not know how hard the landing would be and how long the plane could hold out on the water.

But I managed to land so that the rescuers could arrive as quickly as possible - this was a decisive factor on such a cold day.

- In addition to the crew, you thanked the passengers many times, who behaved very disciplined in such terrible circumstances. How did they do it in such a stressful, deadly situation?

“Despite the fact that each person acted in their own interests, there were people who helped others. There was a woman in a wheelchair, and passengers and crew helped her and her adult daughter out. There was a family of four with two children, one of whom was nine months old, and other passengers helped them. So it was not such that everyone was only for himself. Of course, there were screams and pushing, but I am very proud of the way the passengers and crew behaved. I guess everything ended so well, because people acted together in such a difficult situation.

- There are engineers who say that in five years there will be planes flying in the sky that will be controlled by autopilots, but your example shows how important the human factor is in this profession. How do you feel about this prospect?

- I think that best systems are those that pay enough attention to both the human and technical factors.

Every person and every technology has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we must give everyone their proper role to make the whole system more resilient.

I can draw your attention to the recent speech of the head of the National Transportation Safety Council, Chris Hart, who gave a speech at the Association civilian pilots. He remembered our case and said that today such a situation, fortunately, should not happen again - just thanks to technology. But at the same time, he emphasized that people are the least predictable part, but also the most adaptive. Technology can do what it was programmed to do, and humans can handle what happens unexpectedly.

— What advice can you give to young pilots who are used to relying on technology?

What makes a pilot successful is what I call a professional approach - discipline plus the ability to deal with distractions. Mistakes must be caught before they can cause harm, and I believe this can be learned.

“The Miracle on the Hudson will soon be shown in Russia. Would you like to come here and meet Russian pilots who will also watch the film with interest?

- Yes, sure. By the way, I had a conversation with Russian pilots a year after the 2009 story.

And one of them said that the Russians have always thought that their pilots are better, but the Americans have better planes.

But after 2009, they decided to reconsider this and came to the conclusion that American pilots are no worse. I was flattered by this compliment.

This event will certainly go down in the history of aviation, it will teach young American pilots and test the knowledge of the current flight crew.

As it should be in Hollywood films, this story has a main character - a former military pilot, 57-year-old pilot Chesley Sullenberger, nicknamed Sally. And a worthy happy ending - after the plane he was flying landed on the water, all 150 passengers were saved.

Moreover, the pilot left the board, as befits a sea captain, the last. He examined the plane twice to make sure once again that people had left the sinking airship.

The American media reproduced the chronicle of the flight incident. At 15:26 local time, the Airbus A-320 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. But he did not manage to gain a given height. Having risen about 800 meters, 30-45 seconds after takeoff, the pilot reported emergency situation- a collision of an aircraft with at least two birds. Passengers will become aware of this later - already on the ground. Those who were in the cabin, pressed down by seat belts, looking out of the windows with curiosity, described what happened in the same way - "something loudly banged, the plane staggered, and there was a smell of burning."

It is hard to imagine what people experienced when they realized that the liner, which was taking off, began to lose altitude sharply. Everyone understood that something was happening and it was not turbulence. Some passengers sitting closer to the tail saw flames burst from the engines and they began to smoke. It became unusually quiet. The words "fasten your seat belts" continued to burn on the scoreboard. At this critical moment, a message from the pilot about the upcoming landing on the water followed. The pilot warned passengers about a possible "strong blow".

What happened in the cockpit became known from the transcript of the recordings of Sally's conversations with the control room. Initially, the crew requested a landing at the airport of departure. However, it quickly became clear that a return was impossible. Then it was decided to reach the nearest runway in the state of New Jersey, neighboring New York. But after about three minutes of flight, the pilot transmitted to the ground that he would not be able to keep the car in the air. Then the idea came up to land the plane on the only open area suitable in size - in the park, located along the route of the plane. But the control room found out that the risk is too great, because the park is being repaired. The last chance to save passengers was landing on the water, in the Hudson, which separates Manhattan from New Jersey. This decision was forced and, according to experts, very difficult.

“The huge difficulty lies in the fact that the airbus, which Sally piloted, has engines located under the wings. When landing on the water, he had to make sure that the motors did not touch the water. Otherwise, the liner would simply bury its nose in the water. Therefore, the pilot had to do all to glide on the surface of the water for as long as possible, keeping the nose of the aircraft above the surface," professional pilots explain the intricacies of landing in the Hudson.

Another serious danger was represented by ships that the airbus could collide with. The low water temperature - now minus five degrees in the Hudson - and a strong current exacerbated the situation. It is not surprising that, upon learning of the successful landing, New York State Governor David Paterson angrily called what happened "a miracle over the Hudson."

However, there is one detail that Americans hardly remember today. About the panic that arose in Manhattan when people saw a liner falling on skyscrapers. About the rumors that appeared in the first hours after the disaster, about a possible "Arab trace" in this incident. However, the authorities reacted quickly, informing the population that the terrorists had nothing to do with this case.

Everything that follows is well known. In anticipation of rescuers, passengers climbed onto the wing of the aircraft. Five people who sought medical attention were taken to hospitals. According to Lorrie, the wife of pilot Sullenberger, he called her when it was all over, and briefly said: "There was an accident. But everything is over."

Mooring from the sky

On August 21, 1963, a Soviet aircraft made the world's first successful splashdown in Leningrad on a flight from Tallinn to Moscow..

Already during takeoff at the Tallinn airport, the commander of the Tu-124, Viktor Mostovoy, discovered that the front landing gear was jammed in a semi-retracted position.

Mostovoy reported on the radio about the problem to dispatchers. However, due to thickening fog, an emergency landing in Tallinn was banned. Mostovoy was offered to land the car on the reserve unpaved runway of the Pulkovo airfield in Leningrad, - recalls Vladimir Dmitriev, Honored Pilot of the USSR. - While firefighters and doctors arrived at the place of the alleged landing of an emergency airliner, the plane circled over the city at an altitude of 400 meters, developing a fuel reserve of up to one ton. Mostovoy received such an order from Georgy Narbut, the head of flights at Pulkovo Airport. Each lap took 15 minutes.

On the seventh lap, the flight mechanic reported to Mostovoy about the fuel supply, which remains more than necessary according to the instructions. And landing in violation of the rules with a margin of at least 1200-1300 kilograms of fuel threatened the passengers with death. "I'm going for one more lap," the commander of the ship announced on the radio to the ground. He did not suspect that the plane's fuel gauges were faulty. When the airport was 21 kilometers away, the fuel supply was exhausted: the aircraft's left engine stopped.

To shorten the distance to the airfield, the crew decided to fly over the historic center of the city. However, flying over the "headquarters of the revolution" - Smolny, the second engine also failed. Fortunately, the Neva was below, - says Dmitriev. - "Vitya, get on the water," Vasily Chechenov, the co-pilot, a former hydro-pilot, shouted to his comrade.

And then Mostovoy made the only right decision in the current situation: to land the plane on the surface of the water - between the Bolsheokhtinsky and Finlandsky bridges. To avoid panic, the 27-year-old ship's commander ordered the crew members to distract the passengers with conversations. While Mostovoy was planning on a heavy car without fuel over water surface, the stewards told the passengers about the weather in the city on the Neva.

The plane flew a couple of meters over the Alexander Nevsky bridge - at that time still under construction. Workers standing on complex metal structures then fell into the water in horror, - recalls Nadezhda Stepankova, an eyewitness to the events. - A few tens of meters from the Finland Bridge, the plane plopped into the river.

The passengers were happy. But their joy was premature. When landing, the Tu-124 received a significant hole and almost immediately began to take on water. Only thanks to the actions of Yuri Porshin, the captain of the tugboat, who hooked the metal cable to the pilots' helm and towed the aircraft to the shore, the aircraft did not sink to a depth of 13 meters.

It was "moored" to the berth of the Severny Press plant in such a way that one of the wings lay on land, forming a gangway, Stepankova recalls. - Passengers with children were the first to leave, followed by women, men with things and the crew. The aircraft commander was the last to land. He was very calm, but completely gray-haired.

Reward or punish? - such a question arose before the Main Directorate of the Civil air fleet USSR immediately after the accident.

Viktor Mostovoy was expelled from the Tallinn squadron, as they said - for sloppiness. Allegedly, through his fault, the Tu-124 with passengers on board at first almost collapsed on the historical center of the city, and then it almost sank, - continues Vladimir Dmitriev. - Only after the scandal reached the Central Committee of the CPSU, and the heroism of the pilot became known in the West, Mostovoy was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and his crew members were awarded medals.

DOSSIER "RG"

The most amazing landings

July 17, 1972 Moscow. The Tu-134 aircraft of the State Research Institute of Civil Aviation performed test flights from the Sheremetyevo airfield. During the landing approach, two engines failed at the same time. The commander landed the aircraft on the water surface of the canal. Moscow. No harm done.

August 12, 1997. Thessaloniki. The plane "Boeing-727-230" of the Greek airline Olympic Airways performed a local passenger flight from Athens to Thessaloniki. The aircraft was flown by very experienced pilots (both captains of aircraft taken from other flights for this flight). The weather at the destination airport was the most difficult: a thunderstorm, wind gusts near the ground up to 28 knots, heavy clouds, heavy rain. The plane landed with a significant flight: after flying the first third of the runway, it rolled out of the runway. The nose of the plane hung over the coastline mediterranean sea. The aircraft received significant damage. The crew and passengers - 35 people - survived.

November 23, 1996. Comoros. The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-260ER was on an international passenger flight from Addis Ababa bound for Abidjan. Shortly after entering air space Kenya, three terrorists hijacked the plane and demanded to fly to Australia. On approach to Comoros, the aircraft ran out of fuel, the engines stopped. The pilots attempted to make a controlled water landing in closed shallow water 500 meters from Le Galava beach. However, the left engine and wingtip hit the water and the aircraft was destroyed. Of the 175 people on board, 125 were killed.

March 22, 1998. Philippines. Philippine Airlines' newest A320-214 aircraft was operating a domestic passenger flight from Manila Airport to Bacolod Airport. The aircraft took off with the first engine thrust reverser deactivated. The flight went well. But during landing, due to asymmetric thrust, the plane "blew" to the right side of the runway. The plane collided with the airport fence and stopped in a small river. Luckily, none of the 130 people on board were hurt. The plane was not subject to restoration.

, St. Petersburg

US Airways Flight 1549 Miracle on the Hudson
Consequences of the incident
General information
date of	January 15, 2009
Time	15:31 EST
Character	Emergency water landing
Cause	Collision with a flock of Canada Goose, surge of both engines
A place	Hudson River, New York (USA)
Coordinates	40°46′10″ s. sh. 74°00′17″ W d. HGIOL
dead	0
Wounded	83
Aircraft
Airbus A320-214 of US Airways, identical to the one that splashed down
Model	Airbus A320-214
Airline	US Airways
Departure point	LaGuardia, New York
Stopovers	Charlotte/Douglas , Charlotte (North Carolina)
Destination	Seattle/Tacoma , Seattle (Washington)
Flight	AWE 1549
Board number	N106US
Release date	June 15, 1999 (first flight)
Passengers	150
Crew	5
Survivors	155 (all)
US Airways Flight 1549 Miracle on the Hudson at Wikimedia Commons

In terms of the number of people on board, this case ranks first in the history of splashdowns without casualties, and second in the history of known splashdowns (after the Boeing 767 disaster near the Comoros).

Airplane

Airbus A320-214 ( registration number N106US, serial 1044) was released in 1999 (the first flight was made on June 15 under the test number F-WWII). On August 2 of the same year, it was transferred to US Airways and received tail number N106US. In the early 2000s, he flew for a subsidiary of US Airways - US Airways Shuttle. Powered by two CFM International 56-5B4/P bypass turbofan engines. On the day of the incident, he completed 16,299 take-off and landing cycles and flew 25,241 hours.

Crew

Chronology of events

Flight AWE 1549 departed New York at 15:24 EST. 90 seconds after takeoff (at 15:25:30) the voice recorder recorded the PIC's remark regarding the bird strike. A second later, the sounds of impacts and the rapid fading of the sound of both engines were recorded.

The plane managed to gain a height of 975 meters before the collision with the geese. The PIC gave a distress signal and informed the controller about the collision of the aircraft with a flock of birds, as a result of which both engines were disabled. The loss of thrust from both engines was confirmed by a preliminary analysis of the records from both flight recorders.

The pilots managed to turn the liner flying north to south, glide over the Hudson River without hitting the George Washington Bridge, and splash down the liner opposite Manhattan's 48th Street without destroying the heavy refueled aircraft. It finally stopped in front of 42nd Street. In total, the aircraft stayed in the air (from takeoff to splashdown) for about 7 minutes.

After splashdown, the aircraft remained on the surface of the water, and the passengers exited through both emergency exits onto both wing planes. All passengers on board were rescued by ferries and boats, which approached the plane that splashed down a few minutes later (one of the ferry crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey).

78 people received medical care about minor injuries and hypothermia (the water temperature was quite low, various media cited figures from “near zero” to sometimes negative water temperature).

Affected

At the time of splashdown, 78 passengers received injuries of varying severity, which did not pose a danger to life. Almost everyone suffered from hypothermia. The most serious injury was stewardess Doreen Welsh (deep leg wound). 24 passengers and two rescuers were taken to local hospitals, but most of them were released the same day. One of the passengers suffered eye damage from jet fuel spilled into the water and was forced to wear glasses.

After the incident, all passengers received compensation for lost luggage in the amount of 5,000, and those who could prove a larger loss received additional compensation. Later, those on board at the time of the accident received an additional $10,000 each for waiving further claims against US Airways.

Aircraft damage

As a result of landing, as well as rescue and towing operations, the airframe of the aircraft received significant damage. Organic remains and a bird feather were found in engine No. 2 (right), engine No. 1 (left) separated during splashdown and sank, but on January 23, 2009, it was recovered from the bottom of the river and sent for examination.

Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the causes of the incident on the Hudson.

At the meeting, the pilots Sullenberger and Skiles were presented with claims that threatened them with criminal liability because they (allegedly) could land the plane at the airport of departure or at other nearby airports ( Teterboro and Newark in New Jersey), but did not do this, but splashed down on the Hudson River. As evidence, the NTSB cited testimonies from simulators that simulated the same situation, and in all cases, expert pilots managed to land the plane at LaGuardia, Teterboro and Newark.

In their defense, the pilots stated that they were given about 5 seconds to make decisions when modeling on simulators (although in reality it took about 20 seconds), which was confirmed by the readings taken from the voice recorder. After that, the NTSB decided to insert into the Flight 1549 flight simulator those time figures that were taken from the recorder. After that (at live) none of the simulator pilots managed to land the plane on the nearest runway.

After reviewing all options for resolving this situation, all charges against the pilots were dropped.

The final report of the NTSB investigation was released in April 2010.

The further fate of the aircraft

After the evacuation of passengers, the aircraft was towed to a pier near the World Financial Center (approximately 6 kilometers from the splashdown site), where it was raised.

After the end of the investigation, the liner was purchased by the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte (North Carolina). At first, the aircraft stood without engines, it was fully presented by the fall of 2012.

Cultural aspects

• The splashdown of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson is featured in season 10 of the Canadian documentary television series Air crash investigations in series Landing on the Hudson.
• The incident and Chesley Sullenberger's subsequent speech to the US Congress on the problems in the air travel industry is mentioned in the documentary Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore.
• On September 8, 2016, the film Miracle on the Hudson, based on this incident, was released. The director of the film is Clint Eastwood, the leading actor (Commander of Flight 1549 Chesley Sullenberger) is Tom Hanks.

Currently, several areas are involved in the transportation of people: road, rail and, of course, aviation. The latter, by the way, is considered the safest, since the number emergencies far less. Airplane flight one of the most comfortable and fastest, so the majority still tends to this type of movement from the point A to point B. But things don't always go as planned.

no options
There are times when the plane needs to make an emergency landing. For example, the engine failed or caught fire. You have to sit absolutely anywhere. So in the late 60s, a Russian pilot surnames Bridge made an emergency landing Neva when the plane Tu-124 the right engine failed.

A few decades later, history repeats itself. This time he was obliged to save passengers by making an emergency landing on Hudson. Another heroic rescue of people cannot be ignored.

Top flyer
- a young and ambitious young man who became interested in aircraft engineering in his early childhood. In the year when the Soviet pilot made an emergency landing, Chesley already a member of the society IQ Mensah. At that time he was only twelve years old.

A few years later he joins a well-known flying club. There comes the realization that being a pilot is the dream of his whole life. For this, he was ready for anything. A little later when Chesley became an adult, he entered the flight academy United States of America. Having liked all the teachers and proving that the young man deserves to be a pilot, he graduates from an educational institution with the highest qualifications - Top Flyer, which translates into Russian as "pilot of the highest class."

seven long years Sullenberger worked as a military aviation pilot, performing various combat missions. Over time, he realizes that this is not quite what he wanted to do all his life. And then he makes one of the most important decisions in his life - goes into civil aviation. This is where his career took off. Even opened its own small firm that advises people on aviation security.

But the pilot spent most of his time and effort on exactly what he liked - controlling the aircraft. For more than thirty years he was one of the best pilots of a famous airline. United States – US Airways, where for the entire practice there was not a single accident.

Oh those birds
The real story of a miracle Hudson starts in January 2009. The pilot, as usual, comes to work, where he had to carry passengers from New York to Seattle with a stop at Charlotte. The passenger airliner was supposed to take off at 15:20.

An interesting fact: the pilot worked all his life only for US Airways, without even thinking about changing the airline.

The flight was to be Airbus A320 which was released in 1999. For the entire period of operation, the liner never caused any complaints, as scheduled maintenance took place on time. Second pilot - Geoffrey Skiles, who worked for this company for about two decades, but sat on the A320 for the second time in his life.

In total, there were a little more than 150 people on board the aircraft, including pilots and stewardesses. But immediately after rising into the sky, after about a minute and a half, something terrible happened- a large flock of geese came across the liner. If the birds hit one engine, causing it to fail, the plane would fly to its destination using the other. And in this case, the geese ended up in both engines, which, oddly enough, failed.

Passengers in the cabin of the plane heard strong blows. The smell of smoke penetrated inside, and some people saw burning engines through the porthole window, which, of course, caused a huge panic inside the cabin.

Swimming?
Chesley informed controllers on the ground that he was required to make an emergency landing. Since the plane was in the air for a minute and a half and failed to rise to the desired height, the conclusion was made immediately - it was useless to return, because the liner simply would not fly. There was also the idea of ​​landing an aircraft in a nearby town - Teterboro. But the situation repeats itself: there is not enough headroom to fly to the destination. At this point, communication with the ground is interrupted. Pilots decide to turn A320 towards the south where the river flows Hudson. Seeing the huge Washington Bridge in front of me, Chesley with a partner were able to fly around it, landing on the water. At that moment, there was already a serious panic in the cabin of the airliner, but the pilot calmed the people with the words: “Attention, forced landing on the water. Everybody keep calm".

The landing was successful - only a few people were injured, but no one died. The plane plunged under water for a few seconds, and then “surfaced” out. It was impossible to get out of the liner by jumping overboard, as this could lead to death. This is because it is frosty January outside the window, and the water, of course, is icy.

Then the passengers began to get out on the wings and body of the aircraft. Coast Guard personnel and volunteers with swimming facilities moved to help. All people were saved. And the captain, as expected, leaves the board last, making sure that no one is left on it.

Honor and glory
The liner was towed to the nearest shore and transferred to the museum. After real history aircraft, dubbed the "Miracle on the Hudson", he never again rose into the sky.

The pilot received worldwide fame, heroically saving people. Many TV shows started to invite Chesley visit to hear this again scary story firsthand.

A few years later, a film of the same name "" is released on television, in which the main role is played by a famous actor Tom Hanks.

The pilot landed the crashed plane on the water of the Hudson Bay

Thursday night by the planeAirbusA320 flight 1549 taking off from New York airportLaGuardia to North Carolina, both engines failed immediately after takeoff. After 6 minutes of flight, he was forced to make an emergency landing on the water of the Hudson Bay.

By a happy coincidence and thanks to the outstanding abilities of the crew, all 150 passengers survived. They left the ship in emergency exits, and some of them had to wait for the help of rescuers, being on the wings of the aircraft. Crew commander Chesley Sullenberger refused to put on a life jacket and was the last to leave the plane.

Hero of the day

The crew commander became the hero of the day. "We had a miracle on 34th Street," said Gov. David Patterson. "Now we have a miracle on the Hudson."

Sullenberger, in addition to piloting aircraft, runs a security consulting company. He has been involved in several investigations National Committee US transportation safety and studied the psychology of behavior in the event of a crisis.

Bird strike

According to the preliminary version, the cause of the engine failure was birds that accidentally flew into it. According to the passengers, immediately after takeoff, the ship collided with a flock of birds, after which they heard a sound similar to an explosion. "The engine caught fire. There was fire everywhere and the smell of gasoline," says Jeff Kolodjay, one of the passengers. The authorities rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

The pilot of the aircraft reported the failure to the control tower, asking permission to land on LaGuardia again. The controller, according to the recording of the latest conversations between the pilot and the control room, sent him for an emergency landing on the runway in New Jersey. At this point, communication with the aircraft was interrupted. As is now known, at that moment on board the ship, passengers prayed and sent SMS messages to their relatives: "My plane is crashing."

For reasons that have not yet been clarified, the pilot decided to direct the plane not towards New Jersey, but towards Hudson Bay. The captain of the ship ordered the passengers to prepare for an emergency landing on the water, after which the aircraft smoothly sank into the water. According to one of the passengers, Joe Hart, the push during landing "was no stronger than in a collision with a car moving behind."

By the time Coast Guard rescuers arrived at the landing site, the plane was submerged to the windows. Some passengers were on wings, while others were in the water. It is worth noting that yesterday the air temperature in New York was -6 degrees, which is quite cold for a New York winter.

happy rescue

The prompt actions of the fire department, coast guard and police officers, who quickly appeared on the scene, became another reason for the rescue of 150 passengers and 5 crew members of the aircraft. According to the fire department, 78 people needed the help of paramedics. Coast Guard rescuers pulled 35 people out of the water and brought them to shore. Two policemen say they pulled a woman out of an inflatable boat who was "scared to death" and lethargic due to hypothermia.