Posted in Connecting with God
I've always had a keen interest in aviation. It's just part of that drive that some guys seem to have to love big, noisy things that go fast. I have been watching with a lot of amazement the tale of the US Air flight that ditched in the Hudson River last week. Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III (Sully) has been credited with a perfect ditch that to my mind is the only example of a large-body aircraft to do so. Planes like that are designed to be able to fly on just one engine if the other is destroyed. They are able to "trim out" the yaw (sideways push) of flying on just one engine. It's kind of like driving straight with your steering wheel cranked all the way in one direction. You can make it, but it takes a lot of skill to work the controls.
In this case, however, it was two engines at once. Experts commenting on the crash say that it seems to be the result of a bird strike, where birds get sucked into the engine and their bodies cause extensive damage to the engine. Usually, the damage is limited to just one engine. However, given a large flock of birds, any aircraft with two engines is vulnerable. LaGuardia has had problems with birds taking up residence near the airport, so much so that in the past, they have taken unique steps to run off populations. It's not unlikely that it was a bird strike.
So what happens when both engines develop cases of duck flambe? You have a 180,000-pound glider on your hands, and those wings just aren't going to keep it in the air for long. It's too heavy to stay up there without thousands of pounds of active thrust. That Sully got the plane lined up on the river, that he didn't meet any boat traffic making a crossing, that he kept the plane upright, that it didn't break up or even split in two, these are all miracles! Had the rear exits been opened after they landed, had they not been in sight of ferry boats that could help evacuate, had they panicked, people would have died. Not one died. That is the culmination of not one miracle but a sequence of miracles. I believe angels were involved in keeping those people safe. Thank God.
In this case, however, it was two engines at once. Experts commenting on the crash say that it seems to be the result of a bird strike, where birds get sucked into the engine and their bodies cause extensive damage to the engine. Usually, the damage is limited to just one engine. However, given a large flock of birds, any aircraft with two engines is vulnerable. LaGuardia has had problems with birds taking up residence near the airport, so much so that in the past, they have taken unique steps to run off populations. It's not unlikely that it was a bird strike.
So what happens when both engines develop cases of duck flambe? You have a 180,000-pound glider on your hands, and those wings just aren't going to keep it in the air for long. It's too heavy to stay up there without thousands of pounds of active thrust. That Sully got the plane lined up on the river, that he didn't meet any boat traffic making a crossing, that he kept the plane upright, that it didn't break up or even split in two, these are all miracles! Had the rear exits been opened after they landed, had they not been in sight of ferry boats that could help evacuate, had they panicked, people would have died. Not one died. That is the culmination of not one miracle but a sequence of miracles. I believe angels were involved in keeping those people safe. Thank God.
