“"No engines. No runway. No fatalities."”
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 departed LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte. Two minutes later, at 2,800 feet, the Airbus A320 struck a flock of Canada geese. Both CFM56 engines ingested birds and flamed out. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, a former Air Force fighter pilot with 19,663 total flight hours, took control. First Officer Jeffrey Skiles ran the dual-engine failure checklist. Sullenberger determined they could not reach LaGuardia or Teterboro. He turned the aircraft toward the Hudson River and executed a water landing at 125 knots. All 155 occupants evacuated. The aircraft stayed afloat long enough for ferry boats and Coast Guard to rescue everyone. Five people were seriously injured; no one died. The NTSB called it “the most successful ditching in aviation history.”
Sullenberger’s decision to ditch rather than attempt an airport return was validated by NTSB simulations: with a realistic 35-second delay for recognition and decision-making, return-to-airport scenarios crashed.