A Miracle on the Hudson?

The Hudson River is surrounded by densely populated areas

The Clarion Content, like many folks, felt the urge to call yesterday's wonderful job by the pilots of US Airways Flight 1549 La Guardia to Charlotte a miracle. After all they landed a jumbo jet with two dead engines in the middle of the Hudson River after clearing the George Washington Bridge by a mere few hundred feet and everyone on board survived from an infant to an eighty-nine year old granny. No one was hurt worse than a deep cut on the leg experienced by one of the flight attendants.

WOW!

However, our staff has personally had the six P's of planning pounded into us permanently. What are the six P's, you ask? Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. As amazing as the job performed by the pilot, an Air Force Academy graduate, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III was, and it was amazing, aviation experts agree that it was a combination of skilled, decisive piloting and prior planning that prevented the incident from becoming a tragedy. Sullenberger is a planning expert who started an aviation consulting business called Safety Reliability Methods, Inc. He has worked with both the National Transportation Safety Board and the United States Air Force on accident investigations. He is currently a visiting scholar at the University of California's Berkeley's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.

He had prepared for this moment, as had the aviation industry. Here is how the Christian Science Monitor succinctly put it, "Aviation safety experts are adamant that what happened Thursday afternoon was not simply a 'miracle' but a product of years of disciplined training, invaluable experience, cutting edge engineering and an aviation culture that rigorously and regularly reviews and updates safety related procedures and engineering."

The lesson drawn from this incident should not be simply a "miracle" occurred, but rather that preparation, diligence and hard work can make all the difference. Again the Christian Science Monitor quoting aviation consultant Richard Golaszewski, "He did a fantastic job and made all the right choices. He's a really instinctive, well-trained pilot. But there were a lot of things that happened long before that: Design rules that say how long a plane has to float, training of the flight attendants and pilots. Ditching is something they train for."

Rigorously prepare to do your best. Try to improve everyday. Keep educating yourself, there is always more to learn. There may be no warning before you have to draw on your skills, you may only have one shot. Prior planning and practice will pay huge dividends! Yesterday they saved 155 lives!