Shortly after takeoff from an airport in New York, a plane ran into a flock of birds. Two birds were then sucked into the engines, causing major damage.
The pilot then did a phenomenal job at redirecting the doomed flight into a safe area of the Hudson River. All passengers (around 155) survived with the worst injury being minor hypothermia.
An incredible amount of luck was also involved in this crash. The water was about 40 degrees with the air being 20 degrees. Hypothermia would have set in quickly, but ships in the area were quick to respond and helped to rescue the passengers.
I think that the pilots should be heavily awarded.
A pilot that can keep his cool in a situation like that, and then pilot a plane with engines messing up, and land safely in a river, without killing ONE passenger, is as good as they get.
He did a brilliant job. He ensured that everyone was off the plane before he got off, and I even heard that one passenger didn't want to get off becouse of her luggage. This guy is a brilliant pilot and should be in line for promotion.
Quite good luck that the pilot had, he could have crashed somewhere else, and all of the people aboard could have been severly injured, or worse, dead.
