Fly by Wire The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson

by Langewiesche, William

• ISBN13: 9780312655389
• ISBN10: 031265538X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-26
• Publisher: Picador

Summary

On January 15, 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York when a flock of Canada geese collided with it, destroying both of its engines. Over the next three minutes, the plane's pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, managed to glide it to a safe landing in the Hudson River. It was an instant media sensation, the "Miracle on the Hudson," and Captain Sully was the hero. But how much of the success of this dramatic landing can actually be credited to the genius of the pilot? To what extent is the "miracle" on the Hudson the result of extraordinarybut not widely known, and in some cases quite controversialadvances in aviation and computer technology over the past twenty years? InFly by Wire, one of America's greatest journalists takes us on a strange and unexpected journey into the fascinating world of advanced aviation. From the testing laboratories where engineers struggle to build a jet engine that can systematically resist bird attacks, through the creation of the A320 in France, to the political and social forces that have sought to minimize the impact of the revolutionary fly-by-wire technology, William Langewiesche assembles the untold stories necessary to truly understand the "miracle" on the Hudson, and makes us question our assumptions about human beings in modern aviation.

Author Biography

William Langewiesche is the author of six previous books: Cutting for Sign, Sahara Unveiled, Inside the Sky, American Ground (North Point Press, 2002), The Outlaw Sea (North Point Press, 2004), and, most recently, The Atomic Bazaar (FSG, 2007). He is the international editor for Vanity Fair.

Table of Contents

Praise for Fly by Wire

"If you think you know the story of Chesley Sullenberger’s miraculous ditching of US Airways flight 1549 from the major media coverage, think again. In this short, tightly written yet expansive book, Vanity Fair correspondent Langewiesche (The Atomic Bazaar) weaves a page-turning narrative of the ill-fated, three-minute flight, crippled by a bird strike, with several finely honed elements of backstory (the day-to-day lives of airline personnel including Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew, an errant flock of geese, and a controversial French-built airplane) into a masterpiece of modern journalism. While most media coverage of the event has focused on Sullenberger’s heroic actions, dubbing it the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Langewiesche eschews such hyperbole and explores every detail of the day’s fateful events. Sullenberger and his copilot, Jeffrey Skiles, do come off as heroic, but more for what they did not do—they did not panic, and they did not interfere with the Airbus A320’s remarkable computer system controlling the airplane’s glide into the Hudson. Just before impact, however, Sullenberger raised the airplanes nose gently, an action that bought time for all the passengers to escape the frigid waters. The sections of the book dealing with the flight itself are soberly rendered, yet gripping. But it is the backstory—including the economic, political, and engineering stories behind the airplane itself—that make this book a true achievement. In this expertly researched book, rendered in spare, pitch-perfect prose, Langewiesche has turned a feel-good tabloid story into an enduring work of literature." —Publishers Weekly

"The flight lasted for not much more time than it will take you to read this review. A minute and a half after takeoff, the US Airways jet engines ingested several geese and failed. A little over three minutes later, Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger gracefully planted the Airbus 320 in the Hudson River, and everyone was rescued.

 

"A short tale to hang an entire book on, but William Langewiesche is the best man for the job. "Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson" isn't a hero's story, with inspirational details from Sullenberger's life. Instead, Langewiesche gives us an insightful analysis of the changing world of commercial aviation.

 

"As an author, Vanity Fair magazine editor and pilot, Langewiesche knows this territory well, and he approaches it with a sense of humor. There's a cleverly researched chapter about goose behavior near airports, including an explanation of the avian term "cluster-flocking." Langewiesche relies on cockpit transcripts, interviews and aircraft systems data to flesh out the minutest details surrounding the brief flight. You'll learn what Sullenberger ate for breakfast that morning and what movie his co-pilot watched the night before." —Phaedre Hise, San Francisco Chronicle

Praise for The Atomic Bazaar

“A gripping, frightening and essential story.” —John Freeman, The Denver Post

“One need read only the first three pages of The Atomic Bazaar to be reminded of William Langewiesche’s formidable talent as a journalist whose cool, precise and economical reporting is harnessed to an invigorating moral and intellectual perspective on the world he describes . . . An important book.” —Jonathan Raban, The New York Times Book Review

 Praise for The Outlaw Sea

“Astonishing . . . As [Langewiesche] demonstrates time and time again in this brave, often electrifying book, [the sea] is a world that is both new and very old, and we ignore it at our peril.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, The New York Times Book Review

“William Langewiesche’s enthralling study of the epidemic disorder of our oceans is hard to put down. His prose flows seamlessly and elegantly, effortlessly integrating investigative reporting, political analysis, travel writing and even film criticism.” —Jesse Berrett, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Praise for American Ground

“Slim but powerful . . . One of the gifts of American Ground [is] truth, unclouded by sentiment. This book’s other gift is its capacity to surprise: it is a work of original reporting, and its pages are filled with astonishing observations.” —Jeffrey Goldberg, The New York Times Book Review

“Extraordinary . . . An amazing piece of journalism, full of colorful characters and astonishing scenes.” —Peter Carlson, The Washington Post