Let's hear it for the pilot of that Hudson River airbus!

[WilliamPitt]

The pilot lost both engines in an eyeblink right after takeoff - geese in the engines, and suddenly that plane went from a being marvel of engineering to a multi-ton paperweight - and managed to put that bigass plane down in one piece above the waterline. People are bring rescued, damned fucking cold, but still alive. Bringing a crippled plane down on the water like that...it's like trying to skip a stone the size of the Washington Monument.

Kudos to the pilot. Nerves of tempered steel to do this one right.

:toast:

UPDATE FROM MY FRIEND THE PILOT: Apparently, birds are not the only dangerous threat to air travel today. My pilot friend had to do two emergency landings today. Two. I'm guessing the cold is the cause, he hasn't written back yet with details. So this Hudson pilot was already flying into a shitshow before Canada intervened with ballistic feather pillows.