Slide 1

Good day, everyone. Thank you for being here. Today is the day I get to speak about ‘The Miracle on the
Hudson’ – someone I think is great in the field of aviation. This incident was US Airways flight 1549
which had to ditch in Hudson River a couple of years ago in 2009. The incidence has since will been
explored in aviation safety and crisis management study. Today, our purpose is to identify the causes that
contributed to this result, the actions of the crew, and the behaviors in the aviation industry and changes in
techniques and guidelines for safety for future avoidance.

Slide 2
US Airways Flight 1549 departed LaGuardia airport on the 15th of January flying at 1539hrs with 155
passengers on board. Only 20 minutes into the flight, an impact was made with two large Canada geese,
both engines were struck and subsequently shut down. Given only a scant period of time and the fact that
they were at a relatively low altitude, Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey
Skiles assessed a most unusual choice—a roster known to be unfathomable in the history of commercial
aviation. Due to fast and good wits, sensitivity, and proper cooperation they saved all lives on board and
changed a very threat into a ‘miracle.’ Today we will look at the main technical issues that contributed to
the incident, the environment and the people involved and the transformation of the flight protocols in
aviation industry.

Slide 3
Now it is high time to review the chain of actions that occurred. The flight departed from LaGuardia at
3:26 PM we in the flight going to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. However, the plane took off
only a few minutes later, and then collided with a flock of Canada geese and the engines immediately shut
down completely. Sitting at about 3,000 feet and over populated areas, the pilots were left with few
choices. It also shows that after realizing that he cannot make back to La Guardia or get to another airport,
Captain Sullenberger would not have had enough altitude or thrust to do it. He tried to perform an
emergency landing at the battery park but instead had decided to perform a ditching on the Hudson River
making it one of the most famous ditching maneuvers ever.

Slide 4
The plane in question was an Airbus A320-214 belonging to US Airways, which was a very experienced
team that acts during emergencies and stressful situations. The atmosphere was well coordinated for the
flying as there was no trace of clouds and the wind was calm. Conditions in the environment did not
affect the models’ performance; however, the activities of large migratory birds around the New York
airports were already recognized as a risk. Canada geese pose a special hazard because they are
comparatively large birds that move in large groups, especially during migration, and therefore raise the
probability of multiple bird strikes.

Slide 5
The reason for the event was the aircraft’s impact with a number of large Canada geese around a thousand
meters above the ground. This accident, as most bird strikes, contained large geese – each of the birds
weighting approximately 8 to 10 pounds. While the smaller bird impacts were tested on the engines, the
combined size and number of birds reduce the total power of the engines. The capabilities of both engines
were lost at the same time, the result being a very rare and dangerous situation for a plane. This made
little understanding with aviation safety standards since the engines of that period were not designed to
contain bird strikes of large birds or even simultaneous impacts from two large-birds.

Slide 6
Crisis and emergency management was best exhibited by the crew when handling the particular situation.
With only 36 seconds to make a decision, Captain Sullenberger evaluated his limited options and chose
the safest one: such an event like the plane crashing on the Hudson River. The water landing was
successfully performed by the crew that was also composed and determined under pressure. There are
stories that Captain Sullenberger was calm and orderly, repeated orders to passengers to maintain order,
and their effective teamwork with First Officer Skiles made it to the best result.

Slide 7
The fact that every member of the crew worked in harmony was essential to the finding of the result.
These included such human factors as teamwork, situational awareness and communication all of which
were critical. Captain Sullenberger’s communication skills kept panic away from the passengers. The
professionalism of the crew also helped to minimize stress, to orient and sort the information received,
and did not allow the freezing of the actions in the process of carrying out the action for ditching. The
above case it leads you to realize that human factors are crucial in aviation especially in handling of
critical events where every moment counts.

Slide 8
Environmental factors were also at work. Migratory birds like the Canada geese pose a higher risk near
airport than initial expected to city dwellers of New York and throughout other places close to rivers and
wildlife areas. This was a difficulty to overcome since many migratory birds are species of concern with
special legislation to protect them and have similar flight altitudes to our takeoffs and landings. The
location of airports close to such favorable environments also means that the risks of bird strikes are
likely to rise particularly during migrations.

Slide 9
From the aspect of the aircraft design and standards, the occurrence identified the lack of testing. Until
then, there had been no set of engine certification standards that anticipates multiple strikes by large birds.
Engines in Flight 1549 had passed certification for striking in smaller birds but had never been tested for
an encounter with birds as big as a Canada goose that could affect both engines. This event has clearly
shown that there have to be changes and improvements made in relation to the engines, mainly with
regard to their capability to withstand impact from much larger birds.

Slide 10
Location and timing placed extra conditions. New York City was congested, and any calamity to an
airplane would provide exhausted choices regarding the place to make a sudden landing. To attempt
another airport was out of the question by then since they were at a very low altitude and power had been
lost, which hindered the control of the aircraft. These constraints made it impossible for Captain
Sullenberger to have any other functional choice but to land on the river that flows beside Manhattan,
Hudson particularly and more prudent so that it would avoid buildings and business traffic infrastructure
hit zones.

Slide 11
After that, more concern was paid to the management of wildlife around the airports. Airports have more
recently upped their efforts to prevent bird environments near the tarmac through prevention of bird
presence. Modern methods of radar are employed to locate large groups of birds in the air and to inform
pilots about possible dangers. These avoidance measures seek to reduce the possibility of the birds
coming close to airports or airfields especially with large birds such as Canada geese during their
migratory season.

Slide 12
The change in criteria for the certification of engines was done by both FAA as well as EASA. New
standards now demand that the engines be checked against impacts from even larger birds and producers
present scenarios of multiple large bird impacts.
Slide 13
Another aspect of flight training has also extended towards the use of simulators, for pilots. Now the
technique of studying is more realistic and includes training in the conditions of double engines shutdown
and other rare events that can happen for example during emergency water landing. This brings additional
training closer to reality and in turn it equips pilots for situations such as sudden loss of the engine and the
ability to glide to water landing- an experience that was seen with flight 1549.

Slide 14
This was a clear illustration of why CRM, or Crew Resource Management was very important. The Flight
1549 shows how CRM Structure, Teamwork, and Company Organizational Practices such as
communication and coordination are very significant during crises. Since then, CRM has become an
important feature of training that the airlines have presented a variety of CRM-emergencies, improving
the crew. CRM is now mandatory at international level that underlined the significance of proper
teamwork stating that coordinated cooperation is as important as the mastery of the technique.

Slide 15
In conclusion, this particular case involved many changes, more powerful bird-strike avoidance measures
and greater engine requirements to name a few. These lessons are still relevant to aviation to date and
remind everyone around the world that safety in aviation is evolving. Thank you for your attention and
wish to clarify any issue, please I will be happy to answer you.