Chesley Sullenberger. Sully. The all-American hero.
Or was he?
First it had to be established that he was in fact an actual hero. Sure, he brought the plane down in the Hudson and everyone – 155 souls – were safe. But what if the reason that he was forced to bring the plane down there in the first place was because of something that he had done. Or something that he should have done instead but didn’t. No one would have had to be saved if he himself hadn’t put them in danger.
Yes, the birds caused the initial calamity. But was it really as bad as Sully insisted? Were both engines out? And was it really necessary to drop the plane in the drink instead of landing it at LaGuardia?
Here things get all tangled up in the age-old conundrum: man vs. machine. Relying or not relying on computers to make the decisions. Or relying on them to judge the decisions that we mere mortals make. That ubiquitous “human factor”.
In turn, this is yet another peek into how, in a very short time, somebody that almost no one knew about, becomes somebody that almost everyone knows about. The making of a celebrity in our post-modern world. The parts that are the stuff of dreams and the parts that are the stuff of nightmares.
Also, look for the part where most of us won’t have a clue as to what they are talking about. The “technical” jargon involved in flying a jet liner “in crisis”.
And how hard is it to land a jet plane on the Hudson River? Most of us wouldn’t really have a clue.
IMDb
[b]Clint Eastwood deliberately filmed the escape onto the life raft without rehearsal to capture the physical difficulty of releasing the raft. Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart’s actions were unscripted.
Near the end of the movie, when Sully is before the NTSB, he tells them they forgot to use the human factor, when they used simulations to show he could have gotten to an airport. They relented and added 35 seconds to the simulation before the simulated pilots reacted to the problem. The actual time, from the bird strike, was 58 seconds…a 23-second difference.[/b]
IMDb trivia: imdb.com/title/tt3263904/tri … =ttqu_sa_1
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sully_(film
trailer: youtu.be/mjKEXxO2KNE
SULLY [2016]
Directed by Clint Eastwood
[b]Passenger [being interviewed]: You think you’re gonna die, that’s what you think. And then, miraculously you don’t! Thank you Captain, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Captain Sullenberger for being here today…
…
Charles: For the record. We have an aircraft system investigation and also aircraft structures, MRT…aircraft perfomance, ATC, wide life factors, survival factors and emergency response. Today we begin with our operations, human performance and investigations. On the crash of US Flight 1549.
Sully: The water landing.
Charles: Captain?
Sully: This was not a crash, it was a water landing. We knew what we were trying to execute here. It was not a crash, it was a forced water landing.
Charles: Why didn’t you attempt to return to LaGuardia?
Sully: There simply was not enough altitude. The Hudson was the only place long enough and smooth enough and wide enough to even attempt a landing.[/b]
Is he telling the truth? Or is it enough that he thinks he is telling the truth? Then this part:
[b]Charles: Let’s get into how you calculated all those parameters.
Sully: There was no time for calculating. I had relied on my experience of managing the altitude and speed of thousands of flights over four decades.
Charles: You’re saying you didn’t do it…
Sully: I eyeballed it.
Charles: You eyeballed it?
Sully: Yes. The best chance those passengers had was on that River. And I bet my life on it. In fact, I did. And I would do it again.
…
Ben: Aviation engineers are theorizing that you had enough energy to make it back to the runway.
Sully: Well, engineers are not pilots. They’re wrong. And they weren’t there.
Ben: Regardless, we have to follow up on all implications as part of our investigation.
Charles: Our computers will run retrun scenario algorthms thriving scenario. It will generate simulations with your exact parameters… the engine loss, the altitude, everything you faced when you made your decision.
Sully: I would like to oversee those computer simulations.
Ben: Not possible during the investigation.
…
Ben: You stated there was a dual engine failure due to multiple bird strikes? That would be unprecedented!
Sully: Everything is unprecedented, until it happens for the first time.
…
Lorrie [Sully’s wife on the phone]: There are reporters who would give an update. Inside the mind of Sully. What should I tell them?
…
Lorrie [to Sully on the phone while watching a news report on TV]: The whole world is talking about you. My Sully.
…
Katie Couric [as Sully imagines/dreams her on TV]: Why Captain Sullenberger made that faithful decision to turn the Hudson into a runway? Well, only he can answer. But we now know, it was the wrong choice. A choice that endangered the lives of all of those on board. So, while much of the country hails him as a hero… this new information will certainly change everyone’s understanding of the so called Miracle on the Hudson…Sully Sullenberger, are you a hero, or a fraud?
…
Sully: I don’t like not being in control of the process.
Jeff: Yeah! Well, 6 months from now, we’ll just be laughing about how we got to meet David Letterman.
Sully: We’re doing David Letterman?
Jeff: Yeah, right after next NTSB interview.
…
Official: Arnie Gentile called. He has the ACARS data. The left engine was still operating at idle.
Sully: Not possible, I felt it go. It was like we were stopped in mid-air.
Official: Arnie said there was a chance it was sub-idle. That it still could get thrust. I’m just letting you know, since the NTSB already does.
…
Jeff: Look, I just finished training on the AR320 and I can tell you the only reason the plane operated as well as it did…that the aircraft could land anywhere…is because Captain Sullenberger turned on the auxiliary power unit.
Elizabeth: He was simply following the QRH.
Jeff: No, no he wasn’t. He wasn’t following proper procedure at all. And I know because I had the QRH in my hands. He switched on the APU immediately after engine blowback. According to the Airbus that’s the 15th thing on the list to do. 15th! If he had followed the damn rules, we’d all be dead.
…
Elizabeth: The evidence shows that the left engine was at idle or sub-idle immediately following the bird strike.
Sully: You show me the left engine, I’ll show you dead birds and no power.
Elizabeth: The left engine was lost in the crash, due to excessive damage on touchdown.
…
Charles: We were able to run the all algorithms and the resulting…the computer simulations of US Airways Flight 1549 showed that the Aviation Engineers were correct. There was enough altitude and speed after the bird strike for a successful return to LaGuardia.
Sully: Successful?
Charles: The plane landed at LaGuardia intact, undamaged.
Jeff: You got that from one computer simulation?
Ben: No, 20. Including attempts made for Teterboro runways 19 and LaGuardia runways 22 and 13. Every Computer simulation with the exact flight parameters demonstrated… that return to LaGuardia was possible. And not just possible, probable.
…
Jeff: They’re playing Pac-Man, and we were flying a plane full of human beings.
Sully: Somehow this…that’s not how I’ll remember it. It just doesn’t seem right.
…
Sully [on the phone]: Worst case scenario: The NTSB lists me as the probable cause. That’s immediate retirement, no pension. My life work gone.
Lorrie: Ok you’re scaring me now, Sully. What is going on?
Sully: The left engine might have still been idle-ing…and the AirBus simulations say I could have made it back to LaGuardia safely.
…
Sully: Birds!!!
Jeff: Oh shit!
…
Sully [to the passengers]: This is the Captain, brace for impact.
Passenger: What?!
Flight attendants [in unison]: Brace, brace, brace…heads down, stay down! Brace, brace, brace…heads down, stay down! Brace, brace, brace…heads down, stay down! Brace, brace, brace…heads down, stay down! Brace, brace, brace…heads down, stay down!
…
Bartender [after Sully walks into a pub and sits at the bar]: Hey, is that you? Are you the pilot, Sully? that is you, right?
Sully: Yeah.
Bartender: Hey, it’s a pleasure to meet you. That was unreal what you did the other day, that was really something. It’s a real pleasure to meet you. You know, we invented a drink after you as soon as that happened, ain’t that right, Johnny?
Johnny: Yeah, yeah, you did.
Bartender: The Sully: It’s a shot of Grey Goose with a splash of water.
…
Jeff [to Sully]: I’ve never been so happy to be in New York in my life!
…
Sully [on phone]: I know that AirBus has simulations scheduled for the S42 center at the factory. But that’s next week, in Toulouse. Can you get them to reschedule?
Larry: It’s 1:30 in the morning.
Sully: I need you to make it happen, before we listen to the CVR. Before our testimony is complete.
Larry: Why?
Sully: I have a right to see the simulations, and I have a feeling that with human pilots and not a computer, the results are going to be different.
Larry: What if they show the exact same result?
Sully: If they do, then I’ll hand in my wings myself.
…
Sully: Can we get serious now?
Charles: Captain?
Sully: We’ve all heard about the computer simulations and now we are watching actual sims but I can’t quite believe that you still have not taken into account the human factor.
Charles: Human pilot simulations show that you could have made it back to the airport.
Sully: No, they don’t. These pilots were not behaving like human beings. Like people who were experiencing this for the first time.
Charles: Well, they may not be reacting like you did.
Sully: Immediately after the bird strike they are turning back for the airport. Just as in the computer sims, correct?
Charles: That is correct.
Sully: They obviously knew the turn and exactly which heading to fly. They did not run a check, they did not switch on the APU.
Charles: They had all the same paremeters that you faced.
Sully: No one warned us. No one said: “You are going to lose both engines at a lower altitude than any jet in history. But be cool. Just make a left turn for LaGuardia like you’re going back to pick up the milk”. This was a dual engine loss at 2800 feet followed by immediate water landing…155 souls on board. No one has ever trained for an incident like that. No one…You’ve allowed no time for analysis or decision making. In these simulations, you’re taking all of the humanity out of the cockpit. How much time did the pilots spent planning… for this event. For these simulations? You are looking for human error. Then make it human.
Jeff: This wasn’t a videogame. It was life and death.
…
Sully: Please ask how many practice runs they had.
Elizabeth: 17. The pilot who landed at Teterboro had 17 practice attempts before the simulation we just witnessed.
…
Sully [at the CVR]: Does anyone need to see more simulations?
Jeff: Now that we’ve seen what could have happened, can we listen to what actually did?[/b]
Then they listen to the cockpit recordings.
[b]Sully [looking at Jeff 10 seconds before ditching and asks]: You got any ideas?
…
Elizabeth: Gentlemen, I want to inform you that the left engine has been recovered. We just received the comprehensive report. There was extensive damage to both the guide vanes and fan blades blades at the engine…5 compressor blades were fractured…and 8 variable guide vanes, missing.
Sully: So no thrust.
Elizabeth: As you testified, it was completely destroyed.
…
Elizabeth: I’d like to add something on a personal note: I can say with confidence, that after speaking with the rest of the flight crew, with bird experts and airplane engineers, after running all the scenarios and talking to each of the players there is an X in this result. It’s you, Captain Sullenberger. Take you out of the equation and the math just fails.
Sully: I disagree. It wasn’t just me, it was all of us. Jeff, Donna, Sheila, Doreen. The passengers, rescue workers. Air traffic control, ferry boat crews and scuba cops. We all did it. We survived.
…
Elizabeth: First Officer Skiles, is there anything you’d like to add? Anything, you would have done differently, if you, had to do it again?
Jeff: Yes. I would have done it in July.[/b]