Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - US Airways emergency landing in the Hudson

telekinetic · 01-16-2009, 01:39 PM

I am the engineer in charge of designing and manufacturing the seatbelts that were on this plane (and most planes, actually), and I'm happy to report they functioned perfectly! It feels good to know you're making a difference! This is the type of accident that restraints are designed for--hard enough to need them, but not so hard they won't do any good--and it makes me happy to deal with all the bullcrap involved manufacturing something knowing it will save lives.

Also, (small world) my friend is an engineer who makes the escape slides/rafts, and he said there is a 5-step 'become raft' instruction printed on the top of the slide once it's deployed, so he's not sure why there are reports they needed a knife to be 'cut free'.

Additional factoid: A water landing is called 'ditching,' and an airbus engineer on a forum I'm on reported that A320's (and all Airbus planes) have a 'DITCHING' button in the cockpit that seals the plane as water tight as it can be by closing all the various inlets and vents. It's also used more commonly to seal the plane while the wings are being de-iced. This explains why the plane floated as long as it did, and if the pilot hadn't thought to hit it, it might not have.

01-16-2009, 01:39 PM	#14 (permalink)
telekinetic zomgomgomgomgomgomg Location: Fauxenix, Azerona	I am the engineer in charge of designing and manufacturing the seatbelts that were on this plane (and most planes, actually), and I'm happy to report they functioned perfectly! It feels good to know you're making a difference! This is the type of accident that restraints are designed for--hard enough to need them, but not so hard they won't do any good--and it makes me happy to deal with all the bullcrap involved manufacturing something knowing it will save lives. Also, (small world) my friend is an engineer who makes the escape slides/rafts, and he said there is a 5-step 'become raft' instruction printed on the top of the slide once it's deployed, so he's not sure why there are reports they needed a knife to be 'cut free'. Additional factoid: A water landing is called 'ditching,' and an airbus engineer on a forum I'm on reported that A320's (and all Airbus planes) have a 'DITCHING' button in the cockpit that seals the plane as water tight as it can be by closing all the various inlets and vents. It's also used more commonly to seal the plane while the wings are being de-iced. This explains why the plane floated as long as it did, and if the pilot hadn't thought to hit it, it might not have. __________________ twisted no more Last edited by telekinetic; 01-16-2009 at 01:44 PM..