Posted at: 06/09/2009 6:25 AM | WHEC.com

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Flight 1549: The miracle that almost wasn't, NTSB hearings begin

WASHINGTON (AP) - Even after Flight 1549 glided to a near-perfect forced landing on the Hudson River in January, the plane and its 155 passengers and crew came within inches of catastrophe when someone cracked open a rear door, sending water gushing into the cabin.
     
Who opened the door is one of the questions the National Transportation Safety Board hopes to answer during three days of hearings on the accident beginning Tuesday. Other issues include crew training for forced water landings and dual engine failures, whether aircraft standards for ditching are adequate, bird detection and mitigation efforts at airports, and whether engine standards need to be toughened to withstand collisions with large birds.
     
Had the door been opened wider, the Airbus A320 would likely have flooded and sank immediately, said one experienced crash investigator. Even the slight gap in the door caused passengers in the rear to struggle through rising water to get to safety.

Air in partially empty fuel tanks helped their plane stay afloat. Water also was coming into the cabin from a rupture in the fuselage near the tail cone.
     
Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York on Jan. 15 and climbed to about 3,000 feet when the plane hit a flock of Canada geese and lost thrust in both engines. Capt. Chesley Sullenberger decided to ditch into the Hudson rather than risk crashing in the densely populated area of New York and New Jersey. Everyone aboard survived.

One of the first issues on the board's agenda is whether a passenger or a flight attendant opened the rear door after the plane landed. How much training cabin crews receive on how to evacuate passengers in a forced water landing is another.

Another concern is whether the FAA and airlines need to revise emergency procedures for pilots in the event both engines fail. Those procedures usually involve a sequence of many steps called a checklist. There are different checklists depending upon the problem, but most are based on the expectation that the problem will occur while the plane is flying at a high altitude – airliners typically cruise above 20,000 feet, giving pilots time to identify and correct the problem.

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