As a pilot, it's great to watch a guy make something hair-raising into something that looks like a milk run.
I'd be interested to see if the pilot had a float rating. I'd also be curious as to how the wind was in relation to the river. Ideally the plane would be pointing directly upwind as it hit the water.
However the details worked out (and we pilots love the details) the crew had only seconds to configure and land the plane. Kudos to them for being able to change context and execute a fairly rare maneuver without flaw. There are some great stories about commercial jets doing just fine without engines (check out the Gimli Glider for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider) I remember one from South America that involved going through a cloud deck to land on a levee. This pilot gets to add his name to some of the best of the breed. Completely outstanding.
The pilots requested permission to fly the plane off the levee (!) but were denied.
There's a whole series of interesting power-out landings, including the DC-9 at Sioux City. A recap would be a good idea for a blog post for someone....
The Gimli Glider incident sounds incredible. I can't imagine how spooky it would be to be in a jet at 40,000 feet and have the engines go silent. How much of the noise in a jet is engine noise vs. air resistance?
It varies according to whether the plane is climbing, cruising or descending. From flying gliders, I'd guess about 50/50 during cruise. The sounds occupy different parts of the spectrum - wind noise is pretty white, but more in the higher part of the spectrum. Engine noise is a very deep, black-ish noise. You can hear the difference between a jet in climb and approach - the former makes a much louder, deeper noise. The latter sounds just like a skydiver, incidentally - if you stay at a quiet drop zone, you'll often wonder if there's a jet somewhere high up in the sky.
I'd be interested to see if the pilot had a float rating. I'd also be curious as to how the wind was in relation to the river. Ideally the plane would be pointing directly upwind as it hit the water.
However the details worked out (and we pilots love the details) the crew had only seconds to configure and land the plane. Kudos to them for being able to change context and execute a fairly rare maneuver without flaw. There are some great stories about commercial jets doing just fine without engines (check out the Gimli Glider for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider) I remember one from South America that involved going through a cloud deck to land on a levee. This pilot gets to add his name to some of the best of the breed. Completely outstanding.