Breaking news a small aircraft crashed into the Hudson River in NYC. FDNY and NYPD aviation on site pulled two survivors out of the water.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se.../local/northern_suburbs&id=8970109

Deja vu, huh..... glad there's survivors, and thank god for life fests.

Wow, really glad to hear about this. I gather there was no ELT-- I guess being under water would explain that. Glad to hear they made it!

[Edited 2013-01-27 16:26:25]

It is below freezing here in the NYC area, probably about 30 F (-1C) at the time of the 'splash' landing. One has to wonder about fuel/fuel system icing as a cause of this. That apparently those abroad are alive, still their exposure to very cold water does put them at risk of hypothermia and related medical problems.

Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 4):

Avgas freezes below -58C, so the fuel itself won't freeze. However, if their was water/condensation in the lines, that could have, which would almost certainly cause a blockage if enough was in the line.

Depending on the aircraft age, it could have encountered serious carb icing as well.

Quoting N766UA (Reply 3): Wow, really glad to hear about this. I gather there was no ELT-- I guess being under water would explain that. Glad to hear they made it!

ELT's aren't known for being the most reliable feature of light aircraft.

-DiamondFlyer

I bet they were cold as heck. Sounds like the pilot knew what he was doing, and had life vests just in case! Glad to hear everyone is okay!

Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 4): still their exposure to very cold water does put them at risk of hypothermia and related medical problems.

Depends. There's also something called therapeutical hypothermia, which uses a reduced body temperature to achieve centralisation of bodily functions and diminish the effects of injuries. So depending on if they were injured or not and to which extent, this same effect may have saved them (which is colloquially referred to as "no one's dead until he's warm and dead").

Quoting OlafW (Reply 8): Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 4): still their exposure to very cold water does put them at risk of hypothermia and related medical problems. Depends. There's also something called therapeutical hypothermia, which uses a reduced body temperature to achieve centralisation of bodily functions and diminish the effects of injuries. So depending on if they were injured or not and to which extent, this same effect may have saved them (which is colloquially referred to as "no one's dead until he's warm and dead").

Do we know how long they were in the water? It, according to the news report, doesn't sound like they were in the water very long, if they were in the water for any length of time at all.

Glad they both made it! Another miracle on the Hudson  

Sounds like the engine stopped working for whatever reason. Mechanical failure, low oil pressure, icing, fire, who knows...I believe some models of the PA-32 are fuel injected but not sure about this one so carb ice could be an issue.

Anyway, great job to the pilot for getting her down without any loss of life and for having the good judgment to take life vests on board, as well as to the emergency services personnel.

Edit: aircraft reg is N1967E, according to this link:

http://morichesdaily.com/2013/01/sma...ng-2-crashed-hudson-river-yonkers/

[Edited 2013-01-28 09:58:52]

Why can't they change name Hudson River to Sully River. lol


Q

Quoting OlafW (Reply 8):

Yup, the extreme cold like that can actually save lives too. I remember some show with survivors of crashes, think it was on discovery channel. I can't remember exactly the details, but below is the just of the story...

There was a story about two kids driving at night on a snow covered country road along a river heading to their High School for basketball practice. They lost control and went off the road and into the river. The car flooded and sank almost instantly.

The one kid, the driver i think, was able to free himself from his seat belt and got out of the car through the window but the other kid wasn't able to. The kid IIRC tried to go back down and free his friend but was unable to get the seat belt off. So he swam to the river's edge climbed up the embankment and followed the road back to main road. Once there, he was able to get a car stopped to help. She called it in and then everyone came.

But by the time rescuers finally got to the car, the other kid had been in the freezing river underwater for some 45 minutes (if I remember correctly). But he was pulled out and rushed to the hospital. IIRC, he was legally dead at some point, but they were able to revive him.

So in the end, he went a ridiculously long time without any oxygen, but because of the cold water he was in, his body slowed down and he survived with no brain damage. I think his core temperature was in the high 80s as well.