The Importance of Decision Making in the Accident Sequence

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the ingestion of large birds into each engine resulted in an almost total loss of thrust in both engines and the subsequent ditching on the Hudson River. Contributing to the fuselage damage and resulting unavailability of the aft slide rafts were one, the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of ditching certification without determining whether pilots could attain the ditching parameters without engine thrust. The lack of industry flight crew training and guidance on ditching techniques was also cited by the NTSB.