My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson
On January 15, 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York when a flock of Canada geese collided with it, destroying both of its engines. Over the next three minutes, the plane’s pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, managed to glide it to a safe landing in the Hudson River. It was an instant media sensation, the “Miracle on the
...moreHardcover, 193 pages
Published
November 10th 2009
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published November 5th 2009)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
143)
It's a mantra of mine that there's no point reading about events in the newspaper because the whole truth will not surface until time has passed and someone has written a book about the incident. I am fascinated by technology and especially transportation technology and follow NTSB reports carefully and with interest since, as another favorite author, Henry Petroski has pointed out, we learn more from our failures than from our successes. But it's nice when you get a really good author to summa...more
view all 3 comments
Fascinating story about the history of the Airbus A320 - which was engineered with "fail-safe" computer interventions to keep the ride smooth and the plane out of untenable situations (e.g., stalls). These interventions cannot be overridden and this has made the concept a lightning rod for criticisms by professional pilots who don't want to accept that computers can assist with idiot-proofing the act of flying commercial airliners.
The book focuses in on the 2009 US Airways...more
The book focuses in on the 2009 US Airways...more
From leaving the gate to the last person being taken safely aboard a ferry U.S. Airways flight 1549 lasted just under an hour. The author weaves this into a fascinating 193 page story by including background information on what the crew did in the days leading up to this flight, the NTSB hearings about it, the geese and how they came to be flying in the area, how modern jet engines function, and extensive information about the history and background to the fly-by-wire system used on the Airbus A...more
Newspapers and magazines that ran articles on Fly by Wire seemed just as interested in reporting the conflict over this book--Sullenberger has publicly disagreed with many of Langewiesche's conclusions--as they were in assessing whether it was a compelling work. Few who heard the Sullenberger's calm cockpit demeanor during the crisis or caught his self-effacing appearances on television are interested in a book that undermines the man--but that's not what happens here. Langewiesche's work is bal...more
Captain Sullenberger (Sully) was a true hero. The story of his ability to ditch USAirways Flight into the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, after being hit by a flock of Canada geese,with no loss of life, is incredible. Langewiesche is an excellent author (also check out Common Ground about the dismantling of Ground Zero after 9/11). He has just the right touch of irreverence and interest to make the story compelling. The author talks in detail about Canada geese and other critters that get into...more
Eric W's review is the one to read, as it's the one that got me to read this book. (I had, however, really liked Langewiesche's great book on the new piracy at sea.)
I've little to add--a precise yet remarkably informative analysis of the Hudson landing as it illustrates a lot about modern flying, and even more about modern airplanes. My favorite part was actually the opening, where Langewiesche recounts and "translates" the subtext of the dry NTSB testimony; in a few shor...more
I've little to add--a precise yet remarkably informative analysis of the Hudson landing as it illustrates a lot about modern flying, and even more about modern airplanes. My favorite part was actually the opening, where Langewiesche recounts and "translates" the subtext of the dry NTSB testimony; in a few shor...more
This book came on recommendation from my dad. I'll admit that at first I was skeptical that I would enjoy it, and thus it sat on my shelf for a few months before I finally picked it up. Overall, this is a great account of the US Airways landing in the Hudson River in 2009. What makes the book fascinating, though, is the intermittent discussion on flying, modern airplane design, the industry itself and a number of other noteworthy accidents/crashes. This book opened up so many things I didn't...more
The book deals with the plane that ingested some geese into both engines, rendering them inoperative, or almost so. The plane crashed into the Hudson River near New York in January 2009. Miraculously, there were no fatalities.
The book reports on the crash and all the participants who did a fabulous job in preventing disaster. But it also deals with some fundamental differences between passenger jets produced by Boeing and those by its only competitor, Airbus.
The author come...more
The book reports on the crash and all the participants who did a fabulous job in preventing disaster. But it also deals with some fundamental differences between passenger jets produced by Boeing and those by its only competitor, Airbus.
The author come...more
This was an ok book, but I wish the author would have focused more on the actual event. He talked a lot about hte airplane itself and how it was manufactured, about pilots in general, and about geese. Where is the real story of 2 pilots who saved the passengers and crew of a stricjen airliner by landing it in the Hudson River? There was very little about the real story! From what I can see about this author, he focuses on the whys instead of the whats.
This very short book is great on two counts. First, the moment-by-moment account from the flight deck is genuinely gripping even though you know exactly what's going to happen. Second, this book is more interesting for the way in which Langewiesche ties the example of flight 1549 to a bigger story about modern aviation and human performance. He walks such a fine line so well that it's hard to even describe what the book is about once you've read it.
Langewiesche tells it like it is and (as usual) tells it well. Many of these aircraft are today so sophisticated that you almost get the impression that, in the absence of truly multiple catastrophic conditions, a pilot would have to be a totally incompetent boob to crash one. That said, the pilot (and co-pilot) here were two cool cucumbers who faced bravely multiple problems of mental gymnastics. If you like this book, read Langewiesche's 'Atomic Bazaar.'
In the aftermath of the water landing on the Hudson many people were quick to praise the pilots and and crew - and rightly so. Langewiesche's account gives credit to other major player in the drama - the Airbus and its fly by wire avionics. Ultimately, that credit finds its way to Bernad Ziegler and the other engineers of Airbus that helped create bring into existence the A320.
An interesting look at more details about the 'Miracle on the Hudson' and Aviation in general. The author goes on different tangents throughout the book - some interesting, some not. Fans of the TV Series 'Mayday' or 'Air Crash Investigation' will recognize some of the air disasters described in this book. All in all, an interesting rainy Sunday afternoon read.
Langewiesche tells the story of Sullenberger's flight that ditched into the Hudson River after its engines are put out by collisions with geese. He's a superb storyteller, fascinating in the way he imparts all aspects of the story with no wasted words. He tells the story of Sullenberger, the Airbus that crashed, and even how those geese came to be there. Gripping.
This book provides a detailed of Captain Sullenberger's three minute flight from LaGuardia Airport to the Hudson River. I enjoyed the discussion of advances in aviation technology that have made commercial airlines easier to fly and the difficulty of designing a plane to minimize the consequences of bird strikes by pilots.
Interesting from an engineering standpoint in discussing the issues of flight controls and human engineering in the Airbus, not at all dramatized, but I'm a little frustrated that it's not more detailed. If it wasn't going to go into the "miracle flight", I'd like to have seen more discussion of the theory; it's a short book
This book is riveting! It was not really about what I thought - it focuses much more on the inner workings of an Airbus 320 (the kind Jet Blue flies to FLL). It takes nothing away from Sully, but provided a moment-by-moment primer on the aerodynamics of flying sans engines, and even on the psychology of birds! I'll never be afraid to fly again! Wow!
An interesting look at how the refinement of the modern passenger airplane allowed this particular pilot to save his own life and that of all of the passengers when he lost power in both engines shortly after take-off from NYC.
I thought this book would be way more interesting than it was. It got too much into the political side of the crash rather than sticking with what happened during the flight and the corresponding rescue.
Superb account of the landing on the Hudson and how, while Sullenberger acted with great skill, the plane was also a hero that day.
Langewiesche is a master at letting the drama of traumatic events speak for itself rather than trying to pump it up with flowery language.
Story of Miracle on Hudson. Interesting how the Airbus model is made and how fortunate the circumstances were for this flight
Terrific short read! You'll learn a lot about modern airplanes here. Highly recommended.
Good book. Very quick read. It's more about the developments of airplanes than it is the 'glide'. But that is a good thing. Every page has something interesting. Take it on a flight and listen.
Sully got a bit upset over this, don't see why.
Nick Black
marked it as warily-considering
read this before you fly.
Langewiesche introduces interesting data and exposes us to a real picture of technology available at the time of the 'miracle'.
I like the details of the Airbus fly by wire envelope protection. The story of the Hudson River crash was a over dramatic.
Paco P
is currently reading it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
William Langewiesche is a journalist who has written for Vanity Fair and The Atlantic Monthly.
More about William Langewiesche...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
