A copy of the flight deck recording was released Feb. 5, 2009. It was amazing how calm the pilot, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, sounded. He knew there was a crisis at hand. He thought through his options and quickly determined the best course he could take. And he had to do this quickly.
Skill and professionalism
When one thinks of a plane trying to land without power in the engines, one assumes the plane could flip over upon landing, or catch one wing on the water and start a cartwheeling effect. Capt. Sullenberger was able to glide his plane to an unbelievable landing on the Hudson River. (Capt. Sullenberger is certified as a glider pilot, according to Federal Aviation Administration records).
If practice makes perfect, it’s no wonder commercial pilot Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger III was able to save the day, guiding a malfunctioning jetliner over New York City and landing it safely in the Hudson River. “It turns out Sullenberger was well trained for the job and had been studying crisis management.” According to the Associated Press, Sullenberger, 57, of Danville, Calif., is a former fighter pilot who runs a safetyconsulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft. Westfeldt says Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses “the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation” as a basis for safety consulting in other fields. “When a plane is getting ready to crash with a lot of people who trust you, it is a test,” Civil engineer Robert Bea told the AP, “Sully proved the end of the road for that test. He had studied it, he had rehearsed it, he had taken it to his heart.”
The miracle
Termed “The Miracle on the Hudson” because all 155 on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank. Many of the passengers can be seen in pictures, standing on the wings as the plane floated down the river. Rescuers in the ferryboats, the coast guard boats, etc. came quickly and saved the passengers. Paramedics treated a number of passengers and one of the flight attendants.
What lessons can we learn from the ‘Miracle?’
Training and experience pays off in an emergency
For flight attendants, their training and years of experience develops an automatic instinct, said Bob Hemphill, US Airways’ director of in-flight training. Hemphill said when debriefing crews after emergencies, time after time they say, “When the chips were down, my training kicked in.”
Capt. Sullenberger has worked for US Airways since 1980, and before that spent more than six years as a U.S. Air Force F-4 fighter pilot. The co-pilot was Jeff Skiles, 49, of Oregon, Wis., a 23-year US Airways veteran. The three flight attendants on Flight I549 - Doreen Welsh, Sheila Dail and Donna Dent – had 90 years of collective experience.
Within seconds of hitting the water, two flight attendants opened the front doors of the plane – one had to manually pull a lever to inflate the slide that doubles as a life raft. As the tail of the plane sank lower in the water, the third flight attendant, sitting in the rear, decided not to open a door after seeing water rising outside. She moved passengers forward to over-wing exits.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US Airways gives newly hired flight attendants five weeks of training, from an introduction to the aviation industry to procedures for opening each type of door on each type of aircraft they’ll fly. The airline has a full-size Airbus cabin simulator in both its Phoenix and Charlotte training facilities, plus “door trainers” for its Boeing airplanes, so flight attendants can practice opening emergency exits under tough conditions (total darkness, billowing smoke) and evacuating cabins. In both cities, initial training includes “jumping into a pool and practicing opening a life raft, helping people in and out of the raft, putting up the canopy, and using the raft’s sea anchor and medical kit.
According to Hemphill, US Airways has flight attendants undergo two days of recurrent training every year – one day of home study and one day at the training center to practice emergency procedures and measure proficiency. That includes opening doors after first checking for fire, water, or debris; pulling a handle to inflate evacuation slides if they don’t automatically inflate; dealing with disruptive or slow-moving passengers; and knowing how to climb over seats to get to window exits if necessary.
“Pilots return to the training facilities once a year to practice cockpit skills in full-motion flight simulators that have hundreds of scenarios and can recreate the sounds and sensations of flight, creating emergencies so realistic that pilots emerge with “sweat rings around the collar,” says Robert Skinner, managing director of flight training and standards at US Airways.
“US Airways’ curriculum includes a scenario where both engines are lost, but at high altitude, and it typically ends with one engine restarting,” Capt. Skinner said. Pilots can’t practice water ditching or even off-airport landings in the simulator. Once the airplane hits the ground, the system shuts down and has to go through a lengthy reset. However, forced landings and water ditching are taught in the classroom.
How often have you discussed with your fellow professionals about the need to exercise your program? On the other hand, how often have you heard from participants that they’ve exercised enough? Have you heard from your senior management that they are too busy to exercise?
I believe this incident has proven the value of developing a program that identifies “what people should be prepared to do” in a specific incident, of “training the participants” on what they should be prepared to do, and of “exercising them every year, using different scenarios.” I only hope that you have members in your organization with the skill and dedication of Captain Sullenberger and his crew.
Ed Devlin, CBCP, has provided business recovery planning consulting services since 1973 when he co-founded Devlin Associates. Since then, Devlin has assisted more than 300 companies in the writing of their business recovery plans and has made more than 800 seminars and presentations worldwide.
