THE PARADOX OF THE HUDSON RIVER AIRLINER RESCUE… union workers are derided as “union thugs”

[Omaha Steve]

1/2 way down the page: http://gangbox.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/the-paradox-of-the-hudson-river-airliner-rescuethose-heroic-union-workers-are-derided-as-union-thugs-in-normal-times/

Posted in Uncategorized by gangbox on the January 17, 2009

from the WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE:

The social paradox in the “miraculous” rescue on the Hudson
17 January 2009

It is impossible not to be moved by accounts of the crash Thursday afternoon of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River near Manhattan and its aftermath, the successful rescue of all 150 passengers and 5 crew members. A combination of extraordinary professionalism, skill, courage and elementary human camaraderie produced this astonishing outcome.

The odds seemed heavily stacked against a happy outcome. A few minutes after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Flight 1549 apparently flew into a flock of birds and lost power in both of its Airbus A320 engines. Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and his co-pilot thus found themselves at the controls of a powerless jetliner, weighing tens of thousands of pounds and carrying 153 other human beings, directly above one of the world’s major metropolitan areas. The potential for a horrifying disaster was enormous.

Sullenberger indicated to air traffic controllers that he was “unable” to either return to LaGuardia or reach the small airport in nearby Teterboro, New Jersey. Instead, he turned southward along the Hudson River, which separates Manhattan and New Jersey, flew over the George Washington Bridge and landed the aircraft safely in the middle of the river.

Sullenberger and his co-pilot deftly landed the plane in such a manner, “with its nose up, and on its fuselage,” that the plane “managed to stay afloat immediately after impact” (New York Times).

The setting down of the airplane was not the last challenge. January 15 was one of the coldest days of the year so far in New York, with an air temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius) and a water temperature of 35 degrees (2 Celsius). Immersion in water at such temperatures even for a few minutes can be fatal.

With the passengers arrayed on the wings of the sinking plane, within minutes “the water was churned by an ad hoc flotilla of boats and ferries flying the flags of almost every city, state and federal agency that works the waters around New York City. They sped toward the slowly sinking jet, a rescue operation complicated by river currents that kept dragging the plane south” (New York Times).

FULL story at link.

[lostnotforgotten]

1. The Uber Rich And Right Wing Chattering Classes Love Labor When It Suits Them

Else, labor is the enemy of the corporation.

[rurallib]

2. They seems really schizoid on teachers

[Old and In the Way]

3. I wonder how many Freepers were standing on those wings?

Bet they weren't too worried about the unionization of those that plucked them from certain death in the Hudson River.