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Black boxes back up hero pilot's story

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-20 07:47

The black boxes recovered from the US Airways jetliner that safely splashed down in the Hudson River in New York City last week captured thumping sounds, the sudden loss of engine power and the pilot's calm mayday request - evidence that seems to back up the crew's account of hitting a flock of birds shortly after take off.

The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, credited with helping save the lives of all 155 people aboard, reports that the plane has hit birds and lost both engines shortly after investigators heard "the sound of thumps and a rapid decrease in engine sounds," said Kitty Higgins of the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB.

Sullenberger then discussed alternate landings at New Jersey airports before deciding to attempt a river landing, she said. Ninety seconds before ditching the plane, he told passengers to "brace for impact" and informed controllers "they will be in the Hudson River," Higgins said.

The dispatches on the cockpit voice recorder were described as "a very calm, collected exercise," Robert Benzon, a veteran safety board investigator, said on Sunday.

Said Higgins: "It was very matter of fact."

In Washington, DC, safety board spokesman Peter Knudson said preliminary indications from radar data of the plane's take off on Thursday from LaGuardia Airport "did not show any targets" that might be birds. But investigators will keep looking, he said.

"We are going to go and get all the electronic data necessary to get a complete picture of what was on his screen. It's possible there was more being displayed than we initially understood. We just don't know definitively at this point - we don't know exactly what was shown on that radar screen," Knudson said.

Sullenberger, who has so far not publicly talked about the crash, has been invited to attend President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration today, according to the mayor of his hometown, Danville, California. An Obama aide said on Sunday evening the family had been invited, speaking on condition of anonymity because details were still being worked out.

Stephen Bradford, president of the US Airline Pilots Association, said he asked Sullenberger not to engage in any media activities because the pilots association has "interested party" status with the NTSB, which allows it to participate in the investigation.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/20/2009 page11)