So...is that a bird in your engine...or you just happy to see me

Wow... a flock of geese and the next thing you know your floating down the Hudson towards lady Liberty. Captain Sully has got to be one cool dude. Can you imagine....really....your career over 20 years of flying planes and on a chilly morning a flock of Geese shatter your windshield, take out all your engines and there you have it. Your going down. You've got 154 folks now in your hands. And Captain Sully lands them. He continues after the rescue to check the plane a few times to insure everyone made it off the plane, then exits. Onto a barge.

I worked at the Camarillo airport after high school. I was, for many days, the "tower" if you will. The Camarillo airport in the early 80's did not have a tower, and pilots flying in would radio in and ask me... what the conditions were and which runway we were using. I'd get on the UNICOM and state something like.... Camarillo is using runway 86 today, winds out of the east, 8 knots, please enter the pattern at the water tower ...or something equally as vague and scary at that.

And a few times, on a Saturday I recall hearing the "mayday mayday....Camarillo Unicom, Cessna November six eight delta, on approach over cone-jo grade, landing gear unresponsive..."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh whuuuuuuuuuuuut? But...then, I'd snap out of it...grab the xeroxed laminated "emergency" sheet and start systematically going down the list of things to do....
radio fire dept
radio police dept
wet pants

but...one time (in band camp)...the guy in the plane was a guy I knew, one of our renters, returning from big bear w/ his family. All folks that I knew. i was running through the check list w/ him, he was stressing and then he just said "julie...WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?".... His landing gear also wouldn't come down.

I didn't know! I think I prayed, and then the pilot radioed...is Rick in the repair shop...if he is, get him on the radio. I ran over there...leaving my desk (never supposed to do that in an emergency...it was right there on the plastic sheet!). but, rick was never at his desk. always under a plane. I yelled - he came a running.

Long and short, the pilot was able to pop open a few can's of soda (actually his wife did), they somehow someway...poured it into an area where the hydraulic liquid was supposed to be and manually pumped down the landing gear.

The runway was "foamed" by the fire department just as a precaution. But... the plane came in, straight over the 101, just a bit to the north, over the water tower and right onto the runway.

I (again) left my desk and ran out to the runway (he landed short!) and not to far from the offices and was able to see the relief and happiness on the guy, his wife, and kid. It was an amazing experience. One that I had completely forgotten about until today. Listening to Capt. sully land that aircraft on the Hudson river.

Not sure why this is blog worthy... other than, I bet there will be stories told many times about this event today by all the folks who went though it and survived. The will relive it and retell it over and over again. That will help the healing. So... I tell my story now, just cause it was back, fresh in my mind and still 24 years later...a bit unnerving to think I had a hand in the fact that a few folks made it down safe.

Capt. Sully to a certain degree.... i can relate. And I think you are a STUD for landing that plane on the Hudson River.

i'm OUT! Julie