Hudson River Ditching Pilot Tells Her Story

She has the stuff, for sure.

People wonder, "how do pilots do that?" "weren't you scared?"

When it hits the fan, you just get it done. She did it.

I carry a pair of flotation devices all the time but have it in a box in baggage. I take it out for the Keys and such but not for the Hudson corridor. That's changing.

Yep.
 
De Priester’s 15 years of flying experience, including a stint as a commercial pilot, kicked in as she radioed, “Mayday,” put the six-seater plane in glider mode and aimed for the icy waters off Yonkers.
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Wonder where that switch is on the 172's I fly. :rofl:
 
MassPilot said:
Wonder where that switch is on the 172's I fly. :rofl:
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There are a couple of them, one is a red knob, another one has a key, the most popular option is to fly for a long time until the plane automatically switches into glider mode.
 
Bill Watson said:
I carry a pair of flotation devices all the time but have it in a box in baggage. I take it out for the Keys and such but not for the Hudson corridor. That's changing.

Yep.
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I'm so impressed that she had flotation devices on the aircraft. It took almost a half hour to get to them, so that may have saved them from the "exposure" factor right there.

Great stuff!
 
Good story about the outcome, but I am interested in hearing what the cause was. Good for them on getting out with floatation devices.
 
Archammer said:
I'm so impressed that she had flotation devices on the aircraft. It took almost a half hour to get to them, so that may have saved them from the "exposure" factor right there.
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No doubt. I think the Hudson had ice on it which puts it around 32F. I don't think you last far past 45min in that. You have to really want to survive to even get to 30min.

(music here)
Have you ever been experienced?
Not necessarily cold, but :crazy:...
 
:thumbsup:


Carb ice...











...and then there was water in the carburator. :lol:
 
I wonder how close to shore she was (or tried to get)...
 
Does the "glider mode" include increasing the wing aspect ratio and jettisoning the engine?

Well done no matter what mode. ;)

Cheers
 
Bill Watson said:
I carry a pair of flotation devices all the time but have it in a box in baggage. I take it out for the Keys and such but not for the Hudson corridor. That's changing.

Yep.
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I was thinking what foresight to have PFDs for a corridor flight . I would hope I have the same foresight here in the Tennessee River Valley, I never consider landing in the river as a first choice but having PFDs on board may change.
 
Sleepingsquirrel said:
I was thinking what foresight to have PFDs for a corridor flight . I would hope I have the same foresight here in the Tennessee River Valley, I never consider landing in the river as a first choice but having PFDs on board may change.
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Yep, as I've posted in another thread, I've made this flight several times (latest was a week before this accident). I guess I was in denial about the risk of flying up and down the Hudson/East rivers at low altitude without PFDs. There's no place to land except the water!

I feel safer at 500ft along the beaches of Long Island knowing I could put it down in the sand if I had to.

If anything, this incident was a wake up call for me. My passengers and I will be wearing floatation devices the next time I do any lengthy flying over water.
 
I see Inflatable vests on Ebay all the time. I have 3 inflatables on the boat, maybe they will get to the plane. The water here rarely gets below 42 degrees but I wouldn't last 15 minutes. I wouldn't place survival 15 minutes in near freezing water without flotation.
 
Cmercado said:
Well...... I think she is cute!!!!:rofl::rofl::rofl:
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She is a total babe, and she knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency. What more could a man want? :thumbsup:

I do wish she would have referred to it as a ditching instead a crash, but I admit that I'm nitpicking.
 
I was pretty exasperated when I saw that someone was speculating that she did it on purpose to recreate Captain Sully's ditching. :loco: :rolleyes:
 
redtail said:
Yep, as I've posted in another thread, I've made this flight several times (latest was a week before this accident). I guess I was in denial about the risk of flying up and down the Hudson/East rivers at low altitude without PFDs. There's no place to land except the water!

I feel safer at 500ft along the beaches of Long Island knowing I could put it down in the sand if I had to.

If anything, this incident was a wake up call for me. My passengers and I will be wearing floatation devices the next time I do any lengthy flying over water.
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She put it down by the alpine tower. As far as I remember there is a large highway on the west side of the river where you can safely land it.
 
Palmpilot said:
She is a total babe, and she knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency. What more could a man want? :thumbsup:
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Knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency? No disrespect to her but she didn't do anything special, she lost and engine and put it down straight ahead. Yeah there aren't too many landing spots in that area, but it looks like she chose the easiest one to get to. I don't know maybe she just spend too much vital time troubleshooting that by the time she was done she was to low to glide anywhere.
 
MachFly said:
Knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency? No disrespect to her but she didn't do anything special, she lost and engine and put it down straight ahead. Yeah there aren't too many landing spots in that area, but it looks like she chose the easiest one to get to. I don't know maybe she just spend too much vital time troubleshooting that by the time she was done she was to low to glide anywhere.
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My experience is that handling emergencies is much easier in theory than when the real thing happens.

For example, you do know that there are pilots who stall the airplane, resulting in a fatal crash, when the engine quits, right?

I'm not saying that what she did is comparable to Captain Sully's achievement, but any pilot who survives a forced landing or ditching has done something right, in my book.
 
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Sleepingsquirrel said:
I see Inflatable vests on Ebay all the time. I have 3 inflatables on the boat, maybe they will get to the plane. The water here rarely gets below 42 degrees but I wouldn't last 15 minutes. I wouldn't place survival 15 minutes in near freezing water without flotation.
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Only do that if they are not the auto-inflating variety. Those are bad in an airplane.
 
Plane dropped 400 ft in 5 secs. Was she in a flat spin??? I wish I could find a river to ditch my plane in and collect the insurance! :lol:
 
MachFly said:
She put it down by the alpine tower. As far as I remember there is a large highway on the west side of the river where you can safely land it.
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Yeah the Palisades Parkway.

I'm not too crazy about that idea due to cars and possible electrical wires! To me the river (with floatation devices) and the probability of being rescued by boat, is a better choice.
 
Palmpilot said:
My experience is that handling emergencies is much easier in theory than when the real thing happens.
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Oh yeah, I agree with that.

I never said that she completely screwed it up, it could have ended much worse than it did. It's just that all you guys seem to think that she did some super amazing thing, that is not the case.
 
redtail said:
Yeah the Palisades Parkway.

I'm not too crazy about that idea due to cars and possible electrical wires! To me the river (with floatation devices) and the probability of being rescued by boat, is a better choice.
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Knowing the temperature of that water this time of year I'd land it anywhere but the water, I'll even prefer trees over the water. As far as I know if the water temperature is bellow freezing will survive for a maximum of 45 minutes, if you're lucky.

If I knew that a rescue team was already waiting for me in the river then sure, hudson works just fine. According the the AOPA article (http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2013/130130mayday-cherokee-six-lands-in-hudson.html?CMP=News:S6T) she only called for a rescue after the plane was in the water.
 
MachFly said:
Knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency? No disrespect to her but she didn't do anything special, she lost and engine and put it down straight ahead. Yeah there aren't too many landing spots in that area, but it looks like she chose the easiest one to get to. I don't know maybe she just spend too much vital time troubleshooting that by the time she was done she was to low to glide anywhere.
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With all due respect to you, she was at 1000' on the east side (NY)when the engine quit. I've flown that area many times at 1000', not much room to analyze what's going on down on the Palisades Parkway over on the West side (NJ), or if you'll even make it. Wire? Cars?

I think she did great!
 
MachFly said:
Knowing the temperature of that water this time of year I'd land it anywhere but the water, I'll even prefer trees over the water. As far as I know if the water temperature is bellow freezing will survive for a maximum of 45 minutes, if you're lucky.

If I knew that a rescue team was already waiting for me in the river then sure, hudson works just fine. According the the AOPA article (http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2013/130130mayday-cherokee-six-lands-in-hudson.html?CMP=News:S6T) she only called for a rescue after the plane was in the water.
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Yeah I might go for trees. As far as her call for rescue. She made a mayday call immediately after the engine quit. A damn good call, I might add, announcing her exact position. Listen to the audio posted in the other thread.

Also, the river is very active with boat traffic including the NYPD. Making your exact position known, as she did, gives you a pretty good chance of being rescued.
 
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redtail said:
With all due respect to you, she was at 1000' on the east side (NY)when the engine quit. I've flown that area many times at 1000', not much room to analyze what's going on down on the Palisades Parkway over on the West side (NJ), or if you'll even make it. Wire? Cars?
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I agree, there is no time to analyze it and you need to turn for dry land as soon as possible. That's why flying over such cold water on a single engine airplane is so much more dangerous than the normal flying you do every day, if you loose the engine and land in the water the possibility of survival is not very high.

For most of that corridor you don't have a choice but to land in the hudson because you have tall building on either side, where she lost the engines there were other options.

When you're flying at such low altitudes there is never enough time to analyze everything, you need to be thinking in advance of possible landing spots.

If you were to ask me if she did a good job with it, I'd say "yes". However I really think there were much better options.
 
redtail said:
Also, the river is very active with boat traffic including the NYPD. Making your exact position known, as she did, gives you a pretty good chance of being rescued.
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I realize there is a whole bunch of boats around manhattan itself, but are there lots of boats in the northern part of the corridor?

Here is a picture I took of GWB a while back (see attached), there aren't that many boats in the area, and she was further north than this picture was taken.
 

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MachFly said:
I agree, there is no time to analyze it and you need to turn for dry land as soon as possible. That's why flying over such cold water on a single engine airplane is so much more dangerous than the normal flying you do every day, if you loose the engine and land in the water the possibility of survival is not very high.

For most of that corridor you don't have a choice but to land in the hudson because you have tall building on either side, where she lost the engines there were other options.

When you're flying at such low altitudes there is never enough time to analyze everything, you need to be thinking in advance of possible landing spots.

If you were to ask me if she did a good job with it, I'd say "yes". However I really think there were much better options.
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That's where we disagree:wink2:

There were indeed other options in that area, however, I'm not so sure they were "better".

Don't forget, you also have cliffs on the Jersey side! You better not come up short while stretching the glide:yikes:
 
redtail said:
Don't forget, you also have cliffs on the Jersey side! You better not come up short while stretching the glide:yikes:
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Yeah the cliffs might cause a problem. I think they need to be approached like a standard mountain ridge on an underpowered aircraft, at a 45 degree angle, so if there is a downdraft or you run out of energy you can still turn back and put it down in the same hudson.

Now I'm not saying you should do the whole thing on a 45, just when crossing the cliffs.
 
MachFly said:
Knows how to handle an airplane in an emergency? No disrespect to her but she didn't do anything special, she lost and engine and put it down straight ahead. Yeah there aren't too many landing spots in that area, but it looks like she chose the easiest one to get to. I don't know maybe she just spend too much vital time troubleshooting that by the time she was done she was to low to glide anywhere.
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I'd say she did a couple of things special. First, she did the Sully, that is, given a sudden loss of power in one of the most congested areas of the country, she successfully ditched in the Hudson, the only option either had. (It has been pointed out that there is a large highway adjacent to the river on the west side. It's the Palisades Parkway and is about 500 feet above the river. The Hudson procedure suggests that north bound pilots fly up the east edge of the mile wide river. Do the math, and the Palisades is not viable for northbound pilots. But it is reasonably clear of wires, obstacles and trucks. Just cars.)

Second, she had flotation devices aboard and they were available for use. They were not required for the flight. That alone saved both lives. i would suggest that the vast majority of aircraft flying that corridor have no flotation devices aboard. Some of those that do, like me, don't always have them easily available for a dunking in the Hudson. I made 3 such trips in the past 12 months. On two trips I had 2 available devices for 3 passengers. On the others, I had 2 devices packed deeply away for 4 passengers. Flying up the Hudson, under 1200 feet is not technically an over water flight... until you think about it.

Third, she had the chutzpah to survive a cold water ditch and get her passenger thru it too. Hypothermia starts minutes after immersion in 30+F degree water. I've been hypothermic and for one, I'm impressed.

She did good. Real good IMHO.:thumbsup:
 
You're right about the light boat traffic in the area. I guess it all boils down to what the PIC thinks is the best possible chance of survival. Especially with so little time to analyze your options. In this case, they had PFDs and she continued to fly the aircraft. Didn't crash into cars, power lines, or the Alpine tower:D
 
Those suggesting it was no big deal and that an onshore landing might have been a better choice have missed something...

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 1967E Make/Model: PA32 Description: PA-32 Cherokee Six, Six, Saratoga, Turbo
Date: 01/27/2013 Time: 2225
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I cant believe I didnt even hear of this I am local to this! Congrats to the Pilot Great work! Glad to see both were okay!
 
3393RP said:
Those suggesting it was no big deal and that an onshore landing might have been a better choice have missed something...




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2225 Eastern??


I'm sorry but flying at night so low over such cold water on a single engine airplane is just stupid.
 
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