OT: 4 years ago a miracle happened

AussieMan

AussieMan

SOH Staff .."Bartender"
Yes it is 4 years ago that Captain Sully performed a miracle with a dead stick landing of an A-320 on the Hudson River. Jeppsen have created an approach chart for this.
 
I wouldn't call it a "miracle" as that has a lot of other implications. Decades of experience and training proved priceless that day. With a whole bunch of experienced pilots retiring soon, you've got to wonder if the number of accidents are going to increase.
 
Kiwikat said:
I wouldn't call it a "miracle" as that has a lot of other implications. Decades of experience and training proved priceless that day. With a whole bunch of experienced pilots retiring soon, you've got to wonder if the number of accidents are going to increase.
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I don't wonder at all - the answer is nope. There's already a wide age range of experience available out there. You'd have to have every pilot from about 35 - 40 years old on up retire at once in order to worry about a decline in having enough experience. I was a highly experienced aircraft commander/instructor/evaluator before I left the USAF and started at UAL, when I was 33 years old (after 10 years of active duty service). I had world-wide flight experience in a large multi-engine aircraft that was in many cases waaay more challenging than the type of flying I've done at UAL.

Couple of other things as well. I've seen first hand the cognitive abilities of some (not all) older pilots (age 60+) decrease as they've become older. Experience only counts so much to counter the effects of aging. Also, the simple fact is flying can really wear you out. As you get older your recovery time increases. Trust me, I can't do as much as I could even 5 short years ago.
 
Besides there are some awesome instructors out there like my own with his 50 years of experience. Even though my hours are low he is still putting me through some emergency simulations with the intent to prepare me for anything that may come my way while working through the course.
 
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