Doc Searls Weblog

11 responses to “USA1549 down but not out”

1. 

   Nicolas Ward

   January 15, 2009 at 6:22 pm

   I had always mocked the little image of the “water landing” in the seatback safety guide, under the assumption that water is hard at high speeds and the plane would break up on impact. The early images I saw showing up in Twitter looked almost exactly like that though – the plane upright, floating on the water, with escape slides/rafts deployed. I guess that runway overruns into water at relatively low speed are much more likely given typical airport locations.

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2. 

   Doc Searls

   January 15, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   I’m guessing they were only at a few thousand feet when they lost power. That meant the pilot had to glide to a landing. From the look of the map, the pilot made a harder left than usual — losing momentum and altitude in the process, probably, and glided past the Bronx, most of Manhattan, and the GW bridge, while bringing it in for a ditch. Amazing work.

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3. 

   Doc Searls

   January 16, 2009 at 8:10 am

   I’m wondering how 80 tons of metal can float like that.

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4. 

   Andrew Leyden

   January 16, 2009 at 9:32 am

   I heard some commentator said the fuselage was intact underneath the plane which helped the plane float. Had there been a gash or something it would have gone down quicker.

   So Doc–given all your flying, does hearing about plane crashes make you worry about your own traveling?

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5. 

   Andrew Leyden

   January 16, 2009 at 9:37 am

   Doc,

   Interesting tidbit here:

   http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/charles_bremner/2009/01/after-air-crashes-everyone-usually-jumps-to-conclusions-and-gets-the-story-wrong-this-is-unlikely-to-be-the-case-with-us.html

   “And there is credit for the French-based European Airbus firm for building a tough airliner. Among other things, unlike Boeings, the Airbus has an emergency “Ditch button”, which closes vents and makes the fuselage more watertight. Airbus pilots have always been sceptical about the button, on the overhead panel. Today, they are saying today “Oh, so that’s what it’s for.””

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6. Doc Searls Weblog · Following USA1549

   January 16, 2009 at 12:15 pm

   […] a water landing”. Expect Boeing planes to be fitted retrofitted soon with the same feature. Hat tip to Andrew Leyden for that […]

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7. Twitter först med nyheten – igen! | Bloggtidningen

   January 16, 2009 at 12:32 pm

   […] när de händer, med spontana reaktioner och att sedan kunna följa upp med analyser från bloggar och mer traditionella artiklar och intervjuer och […]

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8. 

   Flush Garden

   January 17, 2009 at 9:04 am

   Ditch button, bitch button. That little button only closes the cabin pressurization outflow valves (I believe there is only one such valve on the A320) and it is NOT the reason why the plane floated for such a long time. It floated because the pilot did an amazing job keeping the airplane from breaking into pieces during the ditch landing. Even with all the valves wide open, the aircraft would have still floated long enough for all the people to easily escape.

   Back when jet fuel was far less than a dollar per gallon, aircraft manufacturers didn’t build their fuselages very air tight. The pressurization systems just used more bleed air from the engines and let a lot of pressurized and conditioned cabin air escape through numerous leaks in the fuselage. Once jet fuel became extremely pricey, the newer airliners were constructed with much more air tight seals — the result is less fuel consumption per passenger mile. The bad news is that while this might save your life in the unlikely event of a “skilled” emergency water landing, the newer jets retain more stale cabin air with a lot more bacteria and viruses floating around for everyone to breathe. Happy travels!

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9. 

   Tom

   January 18, 2009 at 4:34 pm

   Please, please get your facts right…

   The ditch button closes the outflow valve, emergency ram air inlet, avionics inlet, extract valve and flow control valve and cabin fans. This is to allow the aircraft to exceed aircraft buoyancy requirements in the event the aircraft remains intact after it has been ditched, so lives can be saved.

   The ditch button is available on all European Airbus A320 family, A340/A330 and A380 aircraft. European Airbus pilots undergo ditch scenarios to land the airbus successfully on water and parameters required to maximise the likelihood of keeping the plane intact. i.e. pitch angle, flaps, apporach speed. etc. In this situation the Captain got it right and the plane was left intact after it was ditched. The airbus design stood up to what it was designed to do, simple as that.

   Boeing, unfortunately, does not have such a facility. Hopefully they will see sense and follow the Europeans and install it in all their new aircraft.

   Well done Captain and well done Airbus.

   I worked for Airbus, France till two years ago when I was in Europe so I know a little bit about these things!

   I hope this helps to clear things.

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10. 

    Doc Searls

    January 18, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    Tom,

    I think you meant to append your comment to this post. I added a pointer there to your correction.

    Reply
11. 

    Flush Garden

    March 12, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Tom,

    Excuuuuuse ME! I forgot about the little tiny dinky other inlets! Beat me with a shovel.

    Also, the word is “out” that a panic-crazed passenger cracked/opened a rear cabin door, letting thousands of gallons of water flow into the cabin during the emergency evac.

    Accordingly, the “ditch button” is more for mental masturbation than for anything real or useful.

    Fark you very much!

    Flush Garden

    Reply