US Airways Plane Crashes In Hudson River

Staff Writer, Feb 09, 2009

On January 15th, 2009, a US Airways Flight  1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City en route to Charlotte, North Carolina in what was scheduled to be a routine flight. Suddenly, moments after takeoff, the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River. The icy water of the Hudson was up to the windows by the time New York City firefighters and U.S Coast Guard rescue teams came to their aid. All of the flights 120 passengers were guided to safety by surrounding boats before the plane managed to sink to the bottom of the river.

The FAA reported a flock of birds in the path of the flight that could have flown into the engine. If this is the cause of flight 1549’s plunge, it is not the first time such an occasion has occurred. In 2007, a bird flew into the engine of a Boeing 757 during takeoff in Manchester, England. Luckily, the pilot was able to land the plane safely and no one was injured. Worldwide, an estimated 4,000 birds fly into aircrafts every week. Most of these incidents do more harm to the bird than the aircraft, but on occasions, birds as small as robins have been the cause of a failed plane engine.

According to the Ostram Committee; more than 200 people have died due to birds colliding with aircrafts since 1988. Thanks to the pilot of Flight 1549’s quick thinking, he was able to land the plane safely. Otherwise, that number of fatalities would be much higher than it currently is.

In recent years, numerous airports have been experimenting with different ways to keep birds away from airstrips. Chicago’s O’Hare Airport has experimented with grape Kool Aid. Scientists have discovered that the grape extract found in Kool Aid serves as a bird tear gas. Other airports have used dogs and even falcons to chase away birds.

The aim to keep birds off of airstrips is because that is where the majority of the bird strikes occur. In the United States, average cruising altitude is around 18,000 feet. Birds tend to not fly that high. However, the highest recorded bird strike was over the Ivory Coast of Western Africa when a Rüppell's griffon Gyps rueppelli, a large vulture, flew into a plane’s engine at 37,900 feet, back in 1979. The plane was able to land safely, but suffered major damage