@Pithlit: why geese? why not Hawks? I think a Hudson Hawk would take down any plane(horrible movie joke)

Now I just want to make jokes so the people complaining about the jokes can make more jokes.

@x23: best.comment.ever.

Of course people are making fun of it, nobody died. even if they did I think there would still be jokes, just not yet. It would be too early.

@ras_d:

I'm disgusted that anyone would make jokes about this too.

"Welcome to US Airways. Warning: The first ten rows WILL GET WET."

I actually saw a small private plane (like a Cessna) make an emergency landing in Wisconsin once. He came in so low I thought he was going to land on my car, used an empty stretch of county road for touchdown, and then veered off into the corn to stop himself in the mud/corn. (Some problem(s) with engines & brakes.)

I find water much scarier than miles of open cornfields! Although I'd just generally prefer to avoid those short-distance take-off/landings. And any and all forms of emergency landing!

(My parents tell me in St. Maarten, they often come on the intercom before takeoff to explain to passengers what's about to happen, because they take off pretty short, over water, and IMMEDIATELY bank a hard right to not smash into a mountain ... which is apparently unsettling for the passengers!)

I'm surprised that after the plane hit the water the water (yes the water) didn't burst into flames and defying the laws of physics fall to the ground at free fall speed.

Don't forget the $125 Emergency Exit Usage Fee.
And the Unscheduled Stop fee of 395 dollars.

Absolutely phenomenal airmanship on the part of the Flight crew.

Absolutely phenomenal work by the Inflight crew in getting everyone off alive and virtually unharmed (last report is a dozen in the hospital, only two with serious injuries out of 135).

This ex-airline employee gives them a standing ovation (and I never worked for USAir)!

@Gann: Wasn't there an airline that was going to discontinue the flotation seats? I wonder if they'll reconsider after this.

Where's the "US Airways fails to murder 155 passenger" headline?

Serious SERIOUS kudos to the pilot for keeping her level with no power.

@BrodskyLaw: Perhaps Howard Stern will call US Airways and ask about a ticket to the Hudson.

People, people! Yes LaGuardia has a short runway, but that has nothing to do with the crash. They ALREADY took off!

@MissPeacock:

The pilot should be commended.

A lot of guts to make the decision that he could not make Teterboro, lining up for a landing on the Hudson, avoiding any boat traffic and landing a lead ballon with no power and keeping it under control.

Thank goodness he did't try to make NJ. This could have been horrible if he had tried to make Teterboro and failed... and worse if had tried to loop back to LaGuardia.

@cmdrsass:

Actually my first thought when I heard the passengers got off safely.

LMFO...MyPetFly, please don't give Spirit Air any new marketing ideas, please. Last time I flew to LGA, Spirit had the brass cojones to fly us in turbulence around Manhattan for an hour and a half. People were barfing in the aisle and all over seats because Spirit (budget airline!) no longer provides barf bags. Their marketing execs are probably cre&*$ming themselves over your idea above as a new way to make a buck...

I totally agree. Anyone that thinks this is funny at all is a sick bastard. Its a fucking miracle that they all survived. The pilots really are heroes and true professionals.

Is this any better looking?

I think you're misunderstanding the term "bird strike." It doesn't mean that there was a bird in the engine when they took off and they failed to notice it during the pre-flight. It means that a bird (or numerous birds) were sucked into the engines from outside once the plane was already airborne.

The occupants of this flight were very fortunate, and the pilots deserve remarkable credit.

[www.atsb.gov.au]

I'm pretty sure US isn't a reputable airline....they would put pax down there if they could!

She said "Oh who cares, I thought it was close by… I thought it was one of our airports." (we work in air freight/logistics so it's kind of our job to know where things are.... particularly things in close proximity to airports lol)

They explained to her that it came from La Guardia and it IS close by and it crashed next to Manhattan…

Then she's like "oh so why do they keep saying Hudson river? That doesn't make sense"

Then when they were talking about how they think it was birds getting sucked into the engines on take-off, she kept saying "why didn't they shoo them out of the engine when they were de-icing the plane? Why would you take off when there is a bird in your engine???

Someone explained to her that the birds are hit and sucked into the engine during take-off and she says "No, that's not possible, the plane is so big and loud it scares the birds away. I just don't get why they didn't check the engines for birds before they took off"

o@L-dizzle: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

@KhaiJB: Yep, and that episode of Mythbusters was about the windshield, not the engines.

If both engines go out, there's an emergency Ram turbine which automatically deploys, burning off some of the aircraft's speed to power emergency systems.

Ha ha!!! Classic! I'll have to remember that the next time I'm facing my own mortality! ; )

@joeblevins: Nope, not yet!

@BrodskyLaw: Sometime back I and my co-workers were convinced I was having a heart attack. I was in some serious pain. I will tell you, I was whipping out a joke every 90 seconds.

"Did you ever hear about the guy who had a heart attack?"

"No."

"Then why the fuck did they send you?"

With enough chemicals in the water, they might end up with two heads like the fish in the news. Of course, there will be an extra head fee on the airline.

Agreed, I think they deserve a drink from every passenger on that plane

@floraposte: Um, what ground error? Not stopping in the middle of the SHORT runway because of the birds?...was the comment I was going to write until I figured out what you were talking about. I will however leave this comment up as a testement to the perils of speaking before before fully comprehending one's comment.

Okay, I'll stop.

It was/is a madhouse. I was around 42nd and 11th when it went down - walked the few blocks to the site. just... damn... those people are soo lucky.

[www.popsci.com]

@acrobaticrabbit:

Luggage Insurance.. I bet These people are just glad to be alive.

@TrueBlue63: It can really mess with the engines, depending upon how large a bird.
Look up "bird ingestion." Essentially, when a bird gets sucked into a jet engine. They try to test engines for this in a test which approximates flight conditions by firing bird carcasses into a jet engine using what might as well be a cannon (or, at least they used to use real carcasses; not sure if they have a substitute which can be used these days). If an engine ingests a large enough bird, it really can cause some serious damage. It can, and has, brought down planes.

@TrueBlue63:

If you get a bird (not to mention multiple birds) down BOTH engines, it can cause the engines to disintegrate. When titanium blades come off of a turbine at 6000+ rpms, they are going to go through something, most likely the hydraulic pumps/line, accesory drive, etc.

I've seen small birds ingested with no problems, but when you get into larger fowl, they usually cause issues.

@☠Grяrяrяrяrяrяrя is fresh out of weird screen names.: Organic Laundering Service

/+50 per bag
/fixed

[en.wikipedia.org]

[www.birdstrike.org]

@MissPeacock: Not only that but because of where it is you have to land straight down, well not straight but you're ears wont be able to tell the difference.

Take off is bad too, you sit there and feel the jets reving up then pssssshhhhhhhhh, you're off like its a god damned ride. I love that part.

I think you refer to the Chicken Cannon? that was the myth that a Frozen bird does more damage than a thawed one.

Bird Strikes do take planes of all sizes out of the air. there's no myth to this.

Whaddya' bet Brodskay chases the ambulances?

But I guess by some people's standards they would be considered morons or insensitive as well.

Please accept my apologies and those of my fellow commenters that posted humor in connection with this accident that miraculously left most people fairly unscathed.

Respectfully,

Chief of Morons

The industry can still maintain that they have had two straight fatality-free years.

@BrodskyLaw:

Actually, humor is a mature defense mechanism. Look it up. Name calling, not so much.

Maybe it should horrify me, but the fact that somebody either involved in the rescue or possibly even a rescued passenger him/herself has already taken the time to Twitter this sort of warms my heart. It's like proof that everything really is fine.

Remember: READ THE SAFETY INSTRUCTION CARDS. EVERY TIME.

Honestly, how can *you* listen to the FBI announce that it's not terrorism related and NOT laugh at the idea of Terrorist Geese?

@farcast: oh man, that's a good point. very very sad point.

and is there such thing as luggage insurance?

Consumerist should be crediting the CORRECT person for the photo: [twitter.com]

basically you find something that you find amusing concerning the topic at hand. in this case... 'airlines' or 'crash' or 'polluted rivers' or perhaps a combination. you can tie observations about the exact event in with archetypes concerning any of the key players in the event. maybe mix in some pop culture references etc. if it makes you laugh... it is a good bet someone else might laugh as well.

here are some tutorials :
[www.wikihow.com]
[www.ehow.com]

then below the article itself there is a link saying "Start a new discussion"... you'd want to click that (make sure you are logged in!). that will make a little text box show up.

now this is important : type the amusing or funny comment you thought up in the previous step *into that box*.

below the box there is a button that says "Submit". once that is clicked you joke is then posted in response to the article.

it is actually pretty easy with a bit of practice.

A living customer is a returning customer :-)

I wonder how much US Airways charged them for lifejackets before getting off the plane.

@L-dizzle: I can guarantee you there are at least 10 people who were on the wing/raft who were cracking jokes while there. Humor is how some people deal with incidents. I got stuck on a roller coaster at a 45 degree angle, and I am TERRIFIED of roller coasters. Except for my girly screams of, "get me off", everything else out of my mouth was a joke/humor, b/c I was so damn scared.

Try landing on an aircraft carrier, stopping in 340 feet or less. ; )

@Skunky: No, you have to pay extra for the Water Submersion Fee.

Or a wet cell phone?

So I'm glad to see the plane so intact, and everyone alive, in this case.

I'd be on the wing, waving my arms, shouting "Ghost ride the whip!"

If birds went into both engines and each had a few broken fan blades, that's all she wrote. Also, depending on how the aircraft is designed, sometimes various systems only run from one engine or the other (or others), and if you lose an engine that provides power to a vital system, well, that's all she wrote.

@L-dizzle:

On the Intarweb ANYTHING can be made fun of. Think of the most horrific thing ever, there is a joke about it. The humor version of Rule 34 (look it up).

Man, I thought these planes were supposed to withstand "bird strikes."

Not saying I approve, necessarily, but I can see where someone might be coming from.

Hopefully none...

I'm sorry, but how the HELL can you be making fun of this right now?

It's being reported now that they hit 2 birds. NOT pilot error, and it's pretty fucking amazing that the pilots managed to make "controlled landing" in the Hudson River.

Didn't we just have the article this week about 2 years without a death on a major American Airline? Did that announcement jinx it?

Getting people off a sinking airplane = good customer service.

Still, this must have been scary as hell. Just thinking of a plane going into the water, "planned crash" or not, makes my stomach turn.

That is a scary looking photo. Looks like it is 50 years old or something. Hope everyone is ok.