The OTHER HERO & PILOT: Jeff Skiles, US Airways

[pipe]

Depends on the company. At American it's up to the Capt who fly's during an emergency. If I was the CA in this scenario I would want to be the one setting it down on the water.

Ever flown with an FO who was a better stick than you?

 

[AbOvo]

Yeah well I'd think the guy with functioning displays would make a better choice for the landing.

 

[C425Driver]

Great job by the entire crew.

How long will it take the TSA to restrict all migratory bird activity within 30 miles of New York and Washington DC?

 

[Jaffo]

Is everybody forgetting about the lap child? There was actually 156 peaple onboard that a/c.
151 pax 5 crew. or did the infant have his/her own seat?

 

[starchkr]

Functioning displays...true, they make good in IFR or at night, but on clear days they might not be a deciding factor to who flies during an emergency. As far as displays go, did these pilots still have the APU running after takeoff? If so, once both gens came offline with engine shutdown, the APU would have powered every display in the bird.

Flying and the controls...I think what it would really come down to would be what their ops specs tell them to do in emergencies, maybe the capt takes over every time, or maybe the "pilot flying" continues flying until control transfer on roll out.

EXCELLENT job though, for both of them. I would bet that without both of them up there it wouldn't have turned out the same way. A lot of things to do to get that bird into that position from that altitude in that short amount of time and then prepare it for ditching as well. Someone mentioned the ditching push button...dang you gotta love that button in a situation like this...one button does it all without having to go through and close things separately.

I do love sitting and listening to those news crews though. Makes me wonder how many times what they report every day is all a bunch of malarky and made up stuff.

 

[haulingthemail]

Depends on the company. At American it's up to the Capt who fly's during an emergency. If I was the CA in this scenario I would want to be the one setting it down on the water.

well i guess in your senero if a bird had come through the window and taken out you THE CAPTAIN, then the whole plane is doomed and is going to crash since only the captain can land during an emergency. Get real, everyone is trained the same. Just because the guy in the left seat as been at the company longer to have upgraded doesn't mean he has the most experience, or skills. There is a big difference in having 19,000 hours and 19,000 hours of experience.

 

[pipe]

In the late '90s TWA had a 767 at max gross out of Tel Aviv take some big birds (in one engine) shortly after V1 if I remember correctly.

FO flew the entire profile to a perfect landing. The jagoffs in the ensuing incident reviews questioned this decision by the Captain.

To his credit, the Capt told them all to pound sand. He said the FO was doing as well or better than he could've and it left him free to analyze the situation, make decisions, and manage the flight -- AS HE WAS BEING PAID TO DO!

I'm pretty sure that companies aren't paying all this money to train emergency procedures in the sim just for the fun of it.

PIPE

 

[igneousy2]

I think ALPA...as the largest pilots union has the perfect opportunity right now to enhance our proffession. Even though it is not one of "our" airlines ALPA should be making pilot spokesmen available in every media outlet that will have us. This is our chance to change the way the public percieves this proffession. The only reason the media calls Mary or Dr. Phil is because the producers have there numbers on speed dial for these situations and everytime after an incident like this there is nothing but silence from the pilots and there union. Our union needs to make it easy for the media to work with us...not wait around the office waiting for the media to call them. In a situation like this I would expect to see Prater or one of his cronies on every major news channel 24 hours a day as long as they will have us.

I am disappointed as this is yet another opportunity we have missed.

Later

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

APC shows US narrow-body FOs topping out at 85 per hour, and the CA at 125. It's criminal what the greedy CEOs and lawyers have done to this profession. These gentlemen and their in-flight crewmembers were priceless today.

From a management perspective, the company is getting great airmanship at $125/hr CA and $85/hr FO.

The real question, those arrogant, greedy money centered jerks are thinking about know, is what $100CA and $65FO will get them....


Keep in mind the the CA and FO and "old timers" finishing off what was a great career....

Are the new, up and coming pilots of this calibre and the pay rates and prospects we have to look forward to?

 

[m80drvr]

I think ALPA...as the largest pilots union has the perfect opportunity right now to enhance our proffession. Even though it is not one of "our" airlines ALPA should be making pilot spokesmen available in every media outlet that will have us. This is our chance to change the way the public percieves this proffession. The only reason the media calls Mary or Dr. Phil is because the producers have there numbers on speed dial for these situations and everytime after an incident like this there is nothing but silence from the pilots and there union. Our union needs to make it easy for the media to work with us...not wait around the office waiting for the media to call them. In a situation like this I would expect to see Prater or one of his cronies on every major news channel 24 hours a day as long as they will have us.

Again, I am disappointed by our union.

Later

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.

ALPA is not the representative for the USAirways pilots. They opted for USAPA. By your logic you should also be upset with the APA, Southwest’s pilots union ect.

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.