The tremendously successful and heroic ditching and evacuation of UsAir 1549 by Captain Chesly ?Sully? Sullenberg and his entire crew was truly remarkable and directly attributable to the professionalism of the entire flight crew throughout the brief, but nightmarish ordeal.
The normally intense cockpit workload of departure from a high-density airport area was phenomenally exacerbated by the sudden loss of thrust to both engines due to ingestion of water fowl at a very low altitude, which essentially transformed the hundred thousand pound commercial jet aircraft into a glider in short order with very few options for a landing site and minimal time for the decision.
Keep in mind that while still communicating with air traffic control, the cockpit crew was completing emergency checklist, while focusing on control of the aircraft as they slowed to ditching speed and configured the flaps for a picture-perfect ditch on the Hudson River. It should be noted that the probability of the successful ditch of an aircraft is minimal at best. Well done to the entire crew!
Professional airline flight crews throughout the United States safely operated tens-of-thousands of flights daily, which serve as a testament to their dedication to their chosen profession as well. Airline safety records consistently bear witness to this fact, and this in spite of the tremendous workplace dissention and potential distraction that has evolved in the post-9/11 era as a result of the outrageous decimation of contracts, work schedules, salaries, and pensions in bankruptcy, while greedy managers continue to reward themselves with excessive salaries, bonuses, and other perks.
We observe upper-level management give credit to themselves for the establishment of safety records of which they play no role. Additional boasts are made regarding safety being the ?first and foremost important concern of the airline?, but their claims smack repugnantly of cynicism as they do nothing to foster safe conditions within their companies. High morale amongst employees is paramount to running a successful company in a service industry, but even more so within the confines of the fuselage, particularly in the cockpit.
Since 9/11, there have been reports of pilots and flight attendants who have observed unsafe conditions in their workplace, but were stifled by management or suffered other recriminations when they attempted to report the discrepancy in accordance with federal aviation laws. Recently, many of the major air carriers? pilot unions have scrapped such a program called Aviation Safety Awareness Program (ASAP) because individuals have suffered harsh recriminations by airline management, when the program supposedly guaranteed impunity for reporting safety frailties within the system.
A specific case in point is offered by a senior former United Airlines Captain, Dan Hanley, a long-time personal friend, who was removed from scheduled flight operations for ASAP submission concerning safety and security issues, denied legal counsel, placed on sick list, and ultimately ushered off the property via the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and into a ?medical? retirement.
After filing a Federal Aviation Administration Whistle Blower Protection Report, which was ignored, this captain initiated a grassroots effort that included petitioning every level and branch of Congress and the Department of Justice to no avail. Is this a level of safety for airline managers to boast about? We think not.
The UsAir Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) recently chose to drop their ASAP program for this very reason. Several weeks ago, United Airlines management elected to file suit against the United Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and four United Airline captains for purportedly engaging in alleged work-disruptive processes. The judge ruled in United Airlines favor by issuing a federal court injunction against ALPA, the United pilots, and these four pilots in particular that describes as contemptuous behavior any pilot who excessively uses sick list or appears to have delayed an excessive number of flights, with this decision rendered by a judge with no exposure or experience whatsoever in the commercial aviation operations arena.
There are many professional pilots and others within the industry who feel that this judge?s ruling abrogates federal aviation law in that pilots might feel pressured to fly in less than an optimally healthful physical condition, or push back from the gate with potential aircraft discrepancies. ALPA is appealing the decision, which will take several months, but consider the potential negative safety impact in the interim. And airline managers continue to boast of safety within their airlines.
Considering these challenges, and in spite of management?s attempts to take credit for safety records of which they play no part in achievement, but to the contrary have done much since 9/11 to grossly denigrate the aviation safety environment, and in light of the labor tribulations at UsAir in particular, our hats go off to the flight crew of UsAir 1549 for their superlative performance under doubly stressful conditions. It was an event for which the crew should be proud. For certain, tens-of-thousands of aircrew members worldwide were quite proud of their sterling performance that memorable day in commercial aviation history.
