January 15, 2009

Watching and photographing the wet landing of US Airways Flight 1549 from my office window!

As many of you have heard, a commercial passenger airliner made an emergency landing in the Hudson River in New York City. I happened to be at our corporate offices for a meeting. The Starrett Lehigh building overlooks the Hudson River near the Chelsea Piers at 26th Street. When we became aware of this horrific problem that the jetliner was having, we postponed the meeting and gathered at the windows, overlooking this extraordinary spectacle taking place. What we witnessed was a most fabulous landing on the water, apparently saving everyone on board. If the landing had taken place on ground, or had hit buildings, it would have been a true catastrophe. Needless to say, we are so relieved and happy that everyone got off that plane safely in the freezing Hudson River waters, and we must commend everyone in the rescue mission for their quick and clear thinking and training to avert this incidence from becoming a giant disaster.  Here are my photos as we watched the airliner floating down-river to where it is now secured in Battery Park in lower Manhattan.
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