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Well said.
Gail Collins' column in the NYT today touched on a similar note:

" you may just be wondering how that rescue in the Hudson River would have gone if it had been led off by the Department of Homeland Security rather than New York Waterway?s director of ferry operations."

A sobering thought.
Here's hoping that the new millennium begins now.

Wonderfully stated philasurfer!!

I think the reason this event reminds us of Obama is that it is so refreshing to see competence on display, something Obama has come to symbolize. We have suffered so many years of total incompetence viz a vis Bush and Company, particularly in the case of Fema and Iraq.

This is the anti-Katrina if you will. The pilot, the rescue workers, everyone did their job and the result was great.

This reminds me of Obama in a few ways. Similar to that pilot Obama is steering the Country, which is facing seemingly insurmountable challenges as if he were flying with no engines and no where to land. Hopefully Obama can defy the odds and steer the Country in for a soft landing. At the very least it will be refreshing to see the results of competence in Washington.

I'm not certain if the very positive feelings surrounding our new President had anything to do with the safe landing of this jet. However, thank goodness that our old President's historic low approval rating of just 22 percent had nothing to do with the safe landing of this jet!!

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Apparently this brave gentlemen walked the plane twice in WAIST DEEP ice cold waters.

Brave AND tough.

Bless him.

May god bless the pilot, the co-pilot and the cabin crew. And may the 150+ passengers have safe flights forever. Or maybe free upgrades for life.

There is something almost touching about seeing the plane just laying in the water all dark and quiet and massive. It's like it's a mammal of some sort. They are setting up the cranes now to haul it out.

Oh, and snarge. SNARGE! What a fantastic word. Who knew?

Right on Adonis!! After Tuesday ALL of our problems will be solved - NO more Recession, NO more job losses, NO more foreclosures, NO more war, NO more Global Warming!!

Can't you feel the CHANGE coming!! Wake Up!!!

The view from JC.

JC_Man wrote:
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How does this reflect on B. Obama, [/quote]

Isn't it obvious??? The collective feeling of hope and change actually formed a physical force of lift underneath the aircraft to keep it going just long enough to make it to the river. The collective good feeling that exuded from the passengers and crew actully kept the plane in the air just enough (even while traveling at a slow rate of speed that normally spells doom) so that a soft enough landing resulted.

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How does this reflect on B. Obama, timing I guess can't be anything else. Thank God the pilot was in class every day at flight school, great transcript I suppose. He must have recieved his pilot license on merit. 3 cheers for his prowess, makes me proud to be an American !

Now Scully's a REAL hero. WOW, Obama hasn't even taken office yet and great things are starting to happen!!

SULLENBERGER
Great save makes 'Sully' instant celeb

Jersey Journal
Friday, January 16, 2009

NEW YORK - The pilot who guided a US Airways jetliner safely into the Hudson River - saving all 155 people aboard - became an instant hero yesterday, with accolades from the mayor and governor and a fan club online.

The pilot of Flight 1549 was Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, of Danville, Calif., an official familiar with the accident told The Associated Press. Sullenberger is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft.

"The captain said, 'Brace for impact because we're going down,'" said passenger Jeff Kolodjay, of Norwalk, Conn. "It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing."

The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not.

"He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody behind him."

Gov. David Paterson described his feat as a "miracle on the Hudson."

Sullenberger, who has flown for US Airways since 1980, flew F-4 aircraft with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations.

Sullenberger's co-pilot was Jeff Skiles, 49, of Oregon, Wis., part of a crew based in Charlotte, N.C.

"He was OK," said his wife, Barbara, of the 23-year US Airways veteran. "He was relieved that everybody got off."

I'm glad to see everyone got out safe with not only no fatalities but very minor injuries. My girlfriend sent me the news, and once I saw the plane in the water afloat and in one piece I was pretty sure no one died. I was glad to see I was right. It's always good to have some excitement - as long as no one gets hurt. That being said, the plane is basically parked outside my window and the helicopters have been flying above it all night. Glad it's a Friday and I can take off.

The one and only time I took the Circle Line was about 30 years ago. I could have sworn they stopped operating. I was so glad to see them in today's rescue!

So so glad there were no fatalities. And Chesley Sullenberger should get a HUGE raise!



WOW!!! WHAT A NAME!!!!

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The last time I took a circle line was about a decade ago, it left the dock and cruised close to Hoboken and JC without the guide saying a word about them. As newly made Jerseyans we gave him considerable grief about it, and the rest of the trip he managed to work Jersey references into his shtick.

Still no mention of Jersey's Bravest.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

It's ironic but just today the New York Times had a story about being on the circle line this morning - and then a few hours later the circle line (and other ships) are busy saving lives:

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A Cruise Around Manhattan in the Snow

By Corey Kilgannon
The New York Times
January 15, 2009, 3:32 pm

Chris Mason and his father, John, on a Circle Line boat on Thursday morning.

It was cold and snowing on Thursday morning, with poor visibility, and only a handful of passengers were on the morning Circle Line cruise that runs down to the Statue of Liberty and partly up the East River and then back to Pier 83 near West 42nd Street on a two-hour tour.

The low attendance was just as well for John Mason, 75, the longest-employed tour guide on the Circle Line cruises (his son Chris Mason, 45, is the second longest). Not only was the weather spotty; so was the cordless microphone he was using to deliver his trademark deadpan narrative, which began as the boat, named Manhattan, pulled out of Pier 83 and slipped down the Hudson.

?I?d rather be on one of the old boats,? he said, growing annoyed at the microphone. He happened to be on a new boat recently added to Circle Line?s fleet, which consists mostly of renovated Coast Guard and military vessels. Apparently not all the kinks have been worked out with the new one, so Mr. Mason adjusted.

?You can?t get too fancy on a day like this,? he said, surveying the crowd and the Manhattan skyline through the boat?s windows, all gray and fuzzy. ?I have to play it pretty straight.?

Even so, hardly a minute went by without some point of information being followed up by a John Mason wisecrack. The first one came as he pointed out a city tow pound at Pier 76 ? where, he joked, cars not claimed within 24 hours are pushed into the river. Most of the jests seemed to go unnoticed by the passengers, who typically seemed to be mostly foreign tourists.

At one point, Mr. Mason described Canal Street as having many vendors, some of whom sell imitation Rolex watches for $10. A few minutes later, a man vacationing from Spain asked where he could buy one, and Mr. Mason had to explain that the watches were not genuine.

It was the first of three tours Mr. Mason, known as the Prince of Guides, was to work on this day. He was sitting with the passengers in a folding chair on the indoor deck and running down a brief history of the West Side waterfront. To the left was Chelsea Piers, and on the right was the now formidable Jersey City waterfront and the Colgate clock, which Mr. Mason said was ?the largest clock in the world.?

Circle Line has been in operation since 1945, and Mr. Mason who has been giving tours for them since 1962. Chris Mason, 45, has been giving them since 1985.

Both father and son were actors and lifelong New Yorkers ? they still live in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn ? and history buffs and news junkies, so they both fell naturally into giving tours. Another of John?s sons, Roger, worked here as a deckhand, and a nephew, Jimmy Mason, did, too.

The snow was falling hard into the gray Hudson, and the boat was passing Ground Zero, on the left.

?You know, it wasn?t just two buildings, but seven buildings destroyed in those attacks,? John Mason said, his voice softening. ?They never found 1,200 of those people. Never found them.?

The boat eased into New York Harbor, passing tugboats, tankers and ferries. Doing three tours in a day is like doing three one-man shows in a row, said John Mason, who used to drive a truck and park it and eat lunch near Pier 83, where he listened to the tour guides begin and finish their tours.

?I was doing a comedy routine at the time called Mason and Denny, said John Mason, whose father was a tanker captain and whose uncle George Mason was a skillful big-ship captain whose skills were such that he was known for being able to dock the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary without the assistance of a tugboat.

Much has changed about the city and the tour guide job since the early 1960s, he said. The Twin Towers rose and fell. And tourists changed.

?Back then, the passengers were mostly polite Midwesterners who listened to your every word,? John Mason said.

Chris Mason also took the ride with his father on Thursday. He now runs a business passed down by his father, a shop in Bay Ridge that sells homemade custom-carved glass. He no longer acts, but he still works the tours, part time in the winter.

?It?s still a form of entertaining, giving the tours,? Chris Mason said. Most of the customers are foreign tourists; most speak some English, but many do not.

Just then, several passengers rushed to he window to take photographs of Ellis Island off the starboard bow.

?Like, you can tell this couple doesn?t speak any English because they?re not looking at Ellis Island,? he said, pointing to a couple chatting away.

The Masons are the longest-employed tour guides on the Circle Line cruises. Chris has been giving tours for Circle Line since 1985, and his father, John, since 1962.

The Statue of Liberty appeared on the right, too, and seemed to move past the ice-streaked windows.

?Sometimes, because of the weather, you can?t see Ellis Island, but you can always see the Statue of Liberty,? Chris Mason said.

Nearing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, John Mason told the passengers that they could see the longest suspension bridge in the nation ? the Golden Gate Bridge.

He let the joke sit, but nobody seemed to notice it. Then he said they were looking at the Verrazano.

Chris Mason said, ?Sometimes I steal jokes from my dad, but I have my own.?

Cruising by Governors Island toward the East River, John Mason pointed out on Fort Williams on the right. He pointed out the ventilation structure for the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which he told passengers was used in the film ?Men in Black.? He pointed out the Staten Island Ferry terminal and, behind it, the building known as 1 New York Plaza, which he said appeared in the film ?Working Girl.?

The film references seemed to excite passengers much more than the historical ones. The boat ran with the northbound tide up the East River, and one could barely catch a glimpse along the narrow corridor of Wall Street and see Trinity Church.

?I like when the current is against us, gives me more time to get into the history of Wall Street,? John Mason said. He pointed out the Brooklyn Bridge as the boat slipped under it.

?That?s where Tarzan took the dive from in that famous motion picture ?Tarzan Comes to New York,? which I?m sure you all remember,? he said, to no real reaction. Ears perked up when he pointed out a building where he said Derek Jeter, Bill Gates and Sophia Loren have apartments.

As I stepped into the bathroom, a ceiling speaker delivered John Mason?s voice pointing out where the United Nations was, and the detail that the 59th Street Bridge was featured in a Woody Allen film.

The boat turned around and headed back, passing the uniform, gray buildings of Peter Cooper Village on the right. John Mason began discussing the regulated rents of that development?s apartments and then, passing a Con Edison plant, he explained the brief history of creating and using steam in New York and said that there were more than 100 miles of wide steam pipes running under city streets. Then on to food.

?Now, someone asked me earlier if I could recommend a restaurant for lunch,? he said. ?There are 25,000 restaurants in the city and I?ve only eaten at 23,000 of them, so I really can?t make a recommendation.?

Before the boat docked, he told the passengers, ?There?s so much to see in New York, and if you want to see it all, you need at least one year and at least a million dollars.? With that, the Prince of Guides was done with his morning tour.

The Hero Pilot. Chesley Sullenberger.

O.K. - If we were allowed to hunt non-migratory geese on the ground this would never have happened.

Seriously, the pilot is a real hero. He made a safe water landing (water is much harder than one might think at 150 mph+) and then went through the plane twice before leaving to make sure everyone was out.

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Here are pictures from the New York Times of the Plane in front of Downtown JC / Just click to enlarge:

Here is the plane with Downtown Jersey City in the background - that is the Grove Pointe
& Mack-Cali buildings on the right:

Here is another - that is obviously the Goodman Sachs Tower on the left.


also here with Liberty State Park and the old Train Terminal in the background:

Also the TV news cameras were over at the Jersey City Medical center on Grand tonight.

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This is valuable information. I didn't realize the exten of training that flight attendents go through. This can be applied to many jobs out there. So before anyone complains they should consider other aspects of tasks at hand. I always said people don't even know the half of it.

At 7 pm, Jersey City EMS and Bayonne Fire Department was at Exchange Place.

The plane is across the water near Stuyvesant High School.

A miracle landing on the Hudson today. For the last fifteen minutes four news choppers are hovering over the downtown section of jersey City in 10 degree temperatures reporting on what we already know. How safe does this make you feel ? They've been there since 7PM. It's now 7:16PM.

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well that didn't take too long

I used to be a flight attendant with TWA. I remember the emergency training we had for a water landing. We had to communicate to the passengers to unbuckle their seat belts (because they panic and forget to do it), and to instruct them to put on their preservers. We had to inflate our preservers and jump into the water as part of the training. And we learned how to remove the emergency exit windows and throw them out in the event of evacuation.

Yes, all flight attendants wait on passengers to serve food and beverages and assist with seating and luggage, but their main duty is emergency landing. Luckily I never experienced anything like this.

I'm so glad that everyone got out safely.

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+1!

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Not sure if you're kidding, Vigilante, but that's exactly how it came across in Mikey's news conference.

Whatever you do, don't land in Jersey!!!

LOL.

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Always a Bridesmaid! Kudos to the first-responders!! The plane almost went for Teterboro but didn't have enough power. Excellent flying by those pilots!

Bloomberg just had a SHAMEFUL news conference.

I really try not to be a NJ homer, but it totally bugs me that Bloomberg did not mention any NJ first responders, who rescued a good percentage of people on that plane.

I happened to be at Mitsuwa at 3:30 pm today when the plane hit the water, buying my scallop sashimi (lol), and I saw the plane's tail in the river at the Chart House a half hour later.

I left the River Drive minutes before it was closed by NJ first responders who took care of the victims.

Come on, be classy, Bloomberg, and mention NJ first responders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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SERIOUSLY!

That crew not only saved the lives of everyone on that plane but also those on land either side of the river. Forget the drink make him/her them the CEO of US Air...

And also major freakin' kudos to the NY/NJ ferryboat Captains and staff...WTG!