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Friday, January 16, 2009

New York's Near Miss

On the Street Corner, NYC
Photo by myself in the Village, around 6th Avenue and West Third Street.

A gaggle of teenaged asian girls assembled on a chilly street corner to chit chat and giggle.

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As many of you in the US might know, the big news on Thursday was that a plane had crashed into the Hudson River.

And not just a plane, but one that belonged to a major airline. And on top of that, there were no fatalities.

The trickle of news started in the afternoon, just after the story broke. I received a couple emails from Mark and friends. Then coworkers started talking about it, ending with a group huddle around a computer screen.

A plane in the Hudson?? Wh-what??! A serious plane?! And when it was announced that no one had been lost, we were amazed.

It is pretty incredible to think that a plane made such an emergency landing so close to the city. Maps show the landing site in line with 42nd Street, in the water between Manhattan and New Jersey. To say that the incident could have been a whole lot worse is an understatement.

Apparently a flock of birds had blown both engines, resulting in a skillful emergency landing. All 155 passengers were rescued from the near-freezing water and survived.

For more about the incident, click here.

Related posts: Brrrrrrrr, Choose Your Tree on Sixth Avenue and We the People.

12 comments:

Olivier said...

même dans le froid, il faut que les filles papotent ;o)) On a vu à la télévision l'accident, heureusement pas de blessé

even in the cold, requires that girls papotent ;o)) we saw on television the accident, fortunately no injuries

Kengot said...

The captain did good job!!

chimesey said...

Yea, woke up to the plane story today. It looks like the pilot is well on his way to celebrity status - fr once, deserved!

Kizz said...

All day yesterday I was thinking how smart and cool the pilot was in doing what he was trained to do and the crew, too, in getting everyone off so quickly. Then late last night I started to think just a little bit about the fact that he was trying to return to La Guardia. What if he'd been OVER 42nd Street. GAH! Like a scene out of Con Air for heaven's sake! Makes me even more impressed by the way everyone handled it.

brattcat said...

And this is a great photograph. Full of motion, life and promise. Excellent choice.

Anonymous said...

It is an incredible story!Watched it unfold on CNN last night, here in Ireland

Regards
Jas

Wayne said...

It turned out to be the right place for an emergency landing. There was lots of marine traffic nearby to assist. Everyone was very professional.

It sounds like a flock of geese when through the engines. No one is saying they were Canada geese (they almost certainly were) and we're grateful. We don't need the bad publicity.

Mom Knows Everything said...

That is amazing about the plane!

Anonymous said...

I agree, it was definitely amazing! I am glad no one was lost.

Great photo!

Ken Mac said...

you come to my hood and you don't even throw a snowball? Well I never..

dianasfaria.com said...

& i just read the story first broke by a non-journalist using a cell phone camera & twitter!

dianasfaria.com said...

sorry, meant cell phone, not cell phone camera!