Friday, January 15, 2010

US Airways Flight 1549 anniversary - All's well that ends well

by B. N. Sullivan

uh ohTime sure flies: today was the one-year anniversary of the ditching of a US Airways A320 in the Hudson River. To mark the occasion, the crew and passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 had a reunion in New York, and even took a boat ride together on the Hudson to the place where the disabled aircraft touched down on January 15, 2009.

Around the same time a Piper PA-18 towing a banner appeared on the scene. According to several news reports, the banner-tow was intended to commemorate the first anniversary of what some pundits have called the 'splash landing' in the Hudson a year ago. Unfortunately the Piper experienced a mechanical problem and ended up making a forced landing in the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot was unharmed, but now that event is being referred to in some media reports as a 'trash landing'.

I kid you not! (I couldn't possibly make up something like this...)

You may be wondering what it said on that banner. According to My Fox New York, the banner said, "If you died today would you go to heaven or hell? John 14:6."

I promise, I am not making this up. Really! You can read about it here.

About the only thing I can offer as a comment -- in regard to both the Flight 1549 accident and today's 'trash landing' -- is, "all's well that ends well."