The OTHER HERO & PILOT: Jeff Skiles, US Airways

[Voice Of Reason]

The F/O now has his own Facebook support page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=57297242864&ref=mf

It's great to see (though the admin "Jenn" seems a bit "off")
"Email:

Office: Usually the right seat. Of course. Right now, a dive bar several blocks from the Hudson
Location: The light blue affordable condo down the road from the neighborhood where some of captains live. It's cool though, it's on the bus route."

 

[Helos2Galaxy]

Pushing this single button will instanly close all openings below the water line as long as the pressurization system is in "Auto".

The ditch switch wouldn't have mattered; I'd imagine the APU was shut down, and with two dead engines there wouldn't be any bleed air to seal off the cargo bins anyway.

 

[Paul R. Smith]

The ditch switch wouldn't have mattered; I'd imagine the APU was shut down, and with two dead engines there wouldn't be any bleed air to seal off the cargo bins anyway.

Good catch.

Sir I'm afraid thats just too much application of system's knowledge for the media.

I don't fly the 320 but let me guess...The A-320 ditching QRH has in it..

...APU...start
Bleeds...configure
Attempt Restart...duh
Thence...
If neither engine is relit..
Ditching Switch...Push....

Not a whole lot of time to take care of an APU start (1min+) let alone a QRH that is prolly as long as I think it is when ground contact is imminent.

 

[starchkr]

APU may have been running...just a guess, but possible...don't ask me why i would say that, but there are some USAir crews that would know what i am talking about. That however is another story and has nothing to do with this, but it "may" have been running.

It is nice to know that the bird will float that long with a few of those holes open though, so even if the ditching switch is not pressed, it isn't (at least in this case) a bad thing. I have recurrent this coming monday and i will ask about this in class.

 

[kf4amu]

Don't hold your breath. I'm sure Prater et el don't want to give USAPA many Kudos. But ALPA is helping behind the scenes with their CHIRP folks. Unpaid volunteers are helping.

I agree it would be nice to see some more good press for the profession but it is USAPA’s show right now.

Ps. I also am impressed with the flying…..but I am reserving the “Hero”, “Miracle” comments until AFTER the investigation is over. I thought about the wrong engine shutdown also. MOSTLIKELY this did not occur BUT I’ll wait for the tapes.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CoPilot-in-CrashLanding-tsmf-14097323.html

Perhaps it's a good thing they advised the crew not to give interviews. Maybe in the future, this will serve as an example of how jumping to conclusions and giving into the media frenzy after an aviation accident is completely unprofessional, no matter if the crew was at fault or not.

I'm glad to see ALPA is helping too.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the first public statement from a pilot of US Airways flight 1549, first officer Jeff Skiles has thanked his union for assisting him in the aftermath of the flight's emergency landing on the Hudson River on Thursday.
"You all need to know that when you are at the weakest, most vulnerable time of your airline career, USAPA will be there to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you," Skiles said in a letter to fellow members of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association. A copy of the letter was obtained by TheStreet.com.
"I have incurred a debt to these people that can never be repaid. I can only say thank you, and tell you that you have made a difference in my life," wrote Skiles, 49, who joined US Airways in 1986.
Skiles handled the takeoff and was at the controls when the birds flew into the engine of the Airbus A320. At that point, he handed the flying off to the captain, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. "Your aircraft," said Skiles, according to the cockpit voice recorder. Then, with Sullenberger at the controls, Skiles attempted to restart the engines and began working through emergency landing procedures.
"On Thursday, many of fellow union members dropped everything, postponed their lives and rushed to New York to aid Sully, Donna, Sheila, Doreen and me in our time of greatest need," Skiles wrote, referring to Sullenberger and the three veteran flight attendants: Donna Dent, Shelia Dail and Doreen Welsh. All three have at least 26 years experience with US Airways: Welsh has 38 years experience.
"Before we even left the ferry dock where the boats dropped us off, Dan Britt (La Guardia vice chairman) was on the scene coordinating with the police," he wrote.
At the hospital, Skiles wrote, three union leaders and the USAPA attorney arrived to help out, and later, at the hotel, the union accident investigation team arrived quickly. Skiles personally thanks a dozen union leaders. One was by his side through his entire interview with the National Transportation Safety Board, he writes.
Additionally, a representative of the Air Line Pilots Association from Unitedrepresentative greeted his plane in Chicago and offered to drive Skiles wherever he needed to go. Last year, USAPA replaced ALPA, which has represented US Airways pilots since 1951, in a bitter union election.
Additionally, despite the conflict, shortly after the crash landing, union president Steve Bradford "received a personal email from ALPA president John Prater offering assistance and expressing concern for the well-being of our crew," according to a letter USAPA sent to its members.
In his letter, Skiles noted that so much had occurred following the accident that by Friday, he though the accident had occurred three or four days earlier.
"It was on the second day when I made a comment to Valerie Wells (a fellow pilot and USAPA committee member) about the accident being three or four days ago. She said, 'What do you mean? It was just yesterday afternoon.' The enormity of the USAPA effort had made me lose track of time. It hit me then. I looked around and realized that these people, all of them, had set aside their lives to rush to my aid.
"They didn't have to do this. They didn't want to spend their days in the LGA Marriott investigating an accident. They all dropped what they were doing and postponed their lives to help me," Skiles wrote. "I cannot tell you how deeply, deeply moved I am by this and how eternally grateful I am to each and every one of them."

 

[Paul R. Smith]

Youre gonna love this...

My wife got back from work last night and she said one of her co-workers was blabbing about how the Co-pilot "didn't have very many hours". My wife said she wanted to call me but it was too late. I wish she would have called.

Didn't the FO have like 6000 hours in the 320? Thats my total time for crying out loud.

 

[av8trinabarrel]

I keep reading that he only had 35 total hours in the 19/20. I know my first 100 hours in any plane is not so pretty.

Too say he was thrown in the fire early would be an understatement.

Being fresh out of initial training can have its adavantages! Nice job fellas

 

[f15boomer]

My wife got back from work last night and she said one of her co-workers was blabbing about how the Co-pilot "didn't have very many hours". My wife said she wanted to call me but it was too late. I wish she would have called.

Didn't the FO have like 6000 hours in the 320? Thats my total time for crying out loud.

Jeff has over 15000 hours and 23 years with USAirways, but just finished his IOE on the AB for the first time. Like most of us we have all been Captains their also.

 

[Paul R. Smith]

Jeff has over 15000 hours and 23 years with USAirways, but just finished his IOE on the AB for the first time. Like most of us we have all been Captains their also.

So you're saying my files are inaccurate?

Sorry.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Anyone see anything of the crew during the inauguration, or were they in disguise?