I wrote just a couple days ago about the expert flying exhibited by U.S. Airways pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, who successfully guided his crippled Airbus A320 (U.S. Airways flight 1549) to an nearly-unprecedented safe water landing in New York’s Hudson River.
Now we are beginning to see the first raw video of the event (included here via LiveLeak.com). First, the grainy videos of the crash itself:
Then, from a U.S. Coast Guard river camera, we see a brief snippet of the crash itself (at about the 2:00 mark on the video) and several minutes of its speedy aftermath:
People are leaving the plane in less than a minute. The first boat arrives to lend assistance in less than four minutes, and within seven there are no less than three boats there rendering assistance. While Capt. Sullenberger deserves immense credit, lots of other people—ferry captains, first responders, etc.—deserve kudos as well for their swift, heroic actions.