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Hudson Ditching Left Engine Running at 35%

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Boy, this thread really brought out the FI brain-less trust...

TC
 
next time you are on a 4 mile final shut down an engine and put the other one at 40 N1 and see how fast the airplane sinks
 
Hhhmmmm....

Teterhole... Lots of antennas. Some terrain (mostly a few hills), short runways, highly populated somewhat residential area, hospital nearby...

Newark..... NJ Turnpike, lots of industry around, chemicals, lots of people on the ground....

Hudson... Not much to hit, water ferries running around all over the place...

I'll take rivers for 155 Alex.....

Nice of you guys to second guess a crew's actions though. Thank you, drive through...
 
next time you are on a 4 mile final shut down an engine and put the other one at 40 N1 and see how fast the airplane sinks

I'm pretty sure you would get fired if you did that with passengers on board. Give me a break.

I did try what happened to Sully in the Sim and at home on the computer and I made it!! It wasn't pretty but I made it.
 
Just curious what kind of motors this plane had? 35% N1 is pretty close to flight idle at lower speeds and altitudes on CFMs anyway, which wouldn't have anywhere near 35% if windmilling at speeds under 250, so maybe the engine was still producing at least a little bit of thrust. At least enough to keep it going with the generator and hydraulic loads, thankfully! I seriously doubt that whatever it may have been putting out did anything to extend their glide much beyond a pure engine out path.

All else being equal, would 70% N1 on one engine really keep this airplane level? I would have figured it'd need a little more juice than that.

I'm sure this scenario will be played out in A320 sims around the world, and maybe, just maybe, on the 20th try, knowing it was coming, doing everything dead on, one in ten of us may be able to make it to TEB, possibly even hitting a runway there. Notice I didn't say "land on". Not even a snowball's chance for EWR. These guys absolutely made the best choice, and made it under total duress.

edit: saw from the "1549 recap" thread (excellent read, BTW....) that the plane had CFMs on it. The geometry makes TEB look maybe a bit more likely than what I thought above, but they still absolutely made the best choice under the conditions.
 
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The fan blades were certainly badly damaged by the ingested bird(s). Just because it was running at 35% doesn't mean it was producing the thrust you would expect at that RPM, only that there was enough rotation to drive hydraulics and the generator. It could very well have not been producing thrust at all. Probably only slightly better than a windmilling engine.
 
Sully made the right choice. LGA/TEB were very risky alternatives for different reasons. Its one thing to discuss the results and options they had. But to second guess Sully and what he did is sad. People who do that probably need progressive taxi instructions on a daily basis. The only question I had as Sully made the second pass through the cabin was, "Did he get all the Merlot of the ship?"
 
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He absolutely made the right decision, given the circumstances. Perhaps he may have made it back to LGA, TEB, EWR, etc. But that would have been based on pure probability on that fateful day. The potential for a successful landing at any airport would be highly questionable. There were too many variables involved to have taken a chance on getting it to a hard-surfaced runway. Too many variables to consider. (obstacles, glide, lining up, system failures, etc.). Too many "what if's" to contend with. A water ditching in the Hudson river presented the crew with better known variables to work with and control. K.I.S.S. This is an essential point and why the decison to ditch vs. making an attempt at an airport, seemed more prudent and rightly so.
 
Talk of attempting to glide (a questionable aircraft) into an airport with a river and formal ditching procedures available is foolish. Seriously.
 
i hope your husband beats you because you deserve it.

We went over this on another thread.....POKE MY PE_N_I$ is a dude. That is what is so funny about his avatar.

Can you say Gay Pilot Ass.
 
Yeah I think it's a lot harder to come up short on the river then to come up short on EWR or TEB...

if this guy banged through the approach lights and smeared everyone a quarter inch thick and an eighth mile long these are the same a-holes who would have said he should have put it in the river.

Everyone lived. Enough said.
 
If the autoflight system was disengaged and the nose lowered and the airplane was at its 210 target speed the autothrust system would have commanded idle thrust.

I am interested to see if the autothrust system was ever disengaged and the thrust lever moved forward.

The investigation also shows that the final re-start occurred at 500 ft and 200kias. Unless APU bleed was selected on this would not be successful.
 

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