Maclean’s Interview: Robert Helmreich
By Kate Fillion - Monday, January 26, 2009 - 1 Comment
Aviation safety expert Robert Helmreich talks to Kate Fillion about pilot error, engine failure, and ditching on the Hudson River
Q: You’re known as the “father of crew resource management,” which is credited with dramatic improvements in aviation safety. Capt. Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed on the Hudson River, was involved in implementing CRM training at USAir. What is CRM, exactly?
A: It’s the application of human factors to flight and aviation, the study of how humans interact with each other and machinery that may or may not be very friendly. What I really do is social psychology in the aviation setting.
Q: Is Sullenberger a hero?
A: I’m sure he doesn’t think of himself as a hero—most pilots who perform splendidly in crises don’t think of themselves that way—but it’s reassuring to the public to think of him that way. One thing he did that was particularly good was setting a tone for the passengers. A lot of the time, pilots are so involved in managing a crisis that they tend to forget they might have a couple hundred people in back who are in a state of panic.
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Building a bird-proof jet
By macleans.ca - Friday, January 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM - 3 Comments
No defence yet against rare ‘double bird strike’ that caused jet crash in NYC
Before he orchestrated an unforgettable emergency landing on the Hudson River, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger radioed air traffic controllers to report a “double bird strike.” In pilot lingo, that means a flock of Canadian geese collided with the Airbus A320, disabling not one, but both jet engines. Wayward birds are sucked into airplane turbines all the time, but a “double bird strike” is such a rare occurrence that most aviation experts can’t even recall another case. For decades, engineers have tried to build a bird-proof engine (their tests include launching frozen poultry into the spinning blades) but a failsafe solution still doesn’t exist. Thankfully, Capt. Sullenberger does.
The Wall Street Journal -
A guide to landing a plane in water
By macleans.ca - Friday, January 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM - 2 Comments
Allow the plane to skim the surface “like a pebble”
Landing a plane in water might be unusual, but that doesn’t mean it’s improvised. As a commercial pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger III was in fact trained in the manoeuvre. The procedure is relatively simple, though few can be expected to handle it as smoothly as Sullenberger did. After alerting the cabin crew and issuing a Mayday call, the pilot needs to disable the landing gear to allow for a smoother landing and turn off the air conditioning to let the cabin pressure match that of outside. The plane must then be slowed down as much as possible by being flown into the wind and extending its wing flaps. Just as the plane is about to hit the water, the pilot must ensure that wings are level to prevent either one from clipping the water, which would cause the plane to cartwheel. Once the wings are both at about the same height from the water, the pilot can lower the tail end and allow the plane to skim the surface of the water “like a pebble,” in the words of a former British Airways pilot.
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A memorable three minutes
By macleans.ca - Friday, January 16, 2009 at 10:15 AM - 0 Comments
Recapping the flight from La Guardia to the Hudson River
After being warned to “brace for impact” by the pilot, passengers were told by the cabin crew to keep their feet planted on the ground and their head down. “As soon as we hit, we all jolted frontward and sideways, and then the water started coming in around my feet,” Elizabeth McHugh, who was on the flight, told the New York Times. Another passenger described the rescue effort as “organized chaos.” Jeff Kolodjay said he and his fellow travellers were “just looking to be calm, and walking a straight line.” Those on the ground, however, weren’t sure what was going on. “When you see a plane somewhere that it isn’t supposed to be, you get that eerie feeling,” Susan Obel, who lives in a 20th floor apartment near the river, told the Times. “I didn’t think it was a terrorist, but I did worry.” As another witness put it, the whole scene was surreal: “I actually thought it was a boat crash at first. It didn’t occur to me that it was a plane in the water.”
