NTSB HEARING (June 9-11) re: Flight 1549

June 7, 2009

Doreen Welsh
NTSB HEARING (June 9- 11)
AGENDA
What really happened in the back of the plane?
Updates crew appearances/videos/posts (6-8)

UPDATE: 1549 passenger witness didn’t even know rear door was breached

June 6, 2009

Here’s the updated NTSB press release regarding their upcoming hearing re: Flight #1549. It’s three days instead of the originally planned two. [Emphasis added]

The National Transportation Safety Board today released additional information about the Board’s scheduled public hearing on the January 2009 ditching of the US Airways A-320 into the Hudson River.

The hearing, originally scheduled for two days, has been expanded to three. It will convene at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, and is expected to conclude mid-day on Thursday, June 11. It will be held at the NTSB’s Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C. The room is lighted for television and a mult box is provided for sound.

On January 15, 2009, at approximately 3:27 p.m. EST, US Airways flight 1549, an Airbus Industrie A320 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, incurred multiple bird strikes during its initial departure climb from New York’s La Guardia Airport (LGA). The airplane subsequently lost thrust to its engines and ditched in the Hudson River approximately three and a half minutes after striking the birds and about five minutes after leaving LGA. To date, of the five crewmembers and 150 passengers on board, five serious injuries have been reported.

The Safety Board will also open the public docket at the start of the hearing. The public may view and download the docket contents on the web under the “FOIA Reading Room” at http://www.ntsb.gov/Info/foia_fri-dockets.htm at that time.

The information being released is factual in nature and does not provide analysis or the probable cause of the accident. The docket will include investigative group factual reports, interview transcripts, Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts, Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data and other documents from the investigation. In addition, docket items that will be used as exhibits during the public hearing will be available on the website under “Public Hearings”

The hearing, which is part of the Safety Board’s efforts to develop all appropriate facts for the investigation, will cover a wide range of safety issues including:

* Pilot training regarding ditching and forced landings on water.
* Bird detection and mitigation efforts.
* Certification standards regarding ditching and forced landings on water for transport-category airplanes.
* Cabin safety training, emergency procedures and equipment.
* Certification standards for bird ingestion into transport- category airplane engines.

An agenda is posted on the Board’s website at http://www.ntsb.gov/events/2009/agenda.htm.

A live webcast of the proceedings will be available on the Board’s website at http://www.ntsb.gov/events/hearing_sched.htm.