This Should Be An 'SRO' NTSB Hearing...

There is intense public interest in all of what occurred when a US Airways A-320 ditched in New York's Hudson River. That being the case, the National Transportation Safety Board is releasing additional information about the Board's scheduled public hearing on the January 2009 ditching of the US Airways A-320 into the Hudson River.
 
The hearing, originally scheduled for two days, has been expanded to three.

On January 15, 2009, at approximately 3:27 p.m. EST, US Airways flight 1549, an Airbus Industrie A320 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, incurred multiple bird strikes during its initial departure climb from New York's La Guardia Airport (LGA). The airplane subsequently lost thrust to its engines and ditched in the Hudson River approximately three and a half minutes after striking the birds and about five minutes after leaving LGA. To date, of the five crewmembers and 150 passengers on board, five serious injuries have been reported.

The Safety Board will also open the public docket at the start of the hearing. The docket will include investigative group factual reports, interview transcripts, Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts, Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data and other documents from the investigation. In addition, docket items that will be used as exhibits during the public hearing will be available on the website under "Public Hearings"

The hearing, which is part of the Safety Board's efforts to develop all appropriate facts for the investigation, will cover a wide range of safety issues including:

• Pilot training regarding ditching and forced landings on water.
• Bird detection and mitigation efforts.
• Certification standards regarding ditching and forced landings on water for transport-category airplanes.
• Cabin safety training, emergency procedures and equipment.
• Certification standards for bird ingestion into transport-category airplane engines.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov