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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
Today's Note From a Madman
January 18, 2009
Safety and Miracles are No Accident
Surviving the plane crash (assuming you can call a successful "ditch" onto water
a "crash") was less accident than most. In fact, one could argue that the
Miracle on the Hudson was more of a response to training, design and planning
than miracle in the end.
Here in the US, we have protective agencies designed to look after our well
being and the well being of the American worker. The FAA and NTSB are two such
agencies which looks after the former; and the pilot's labor union is one which
looks after the latter.
The protections which led to the safe ditching of US Air flight 1549 was the
direct result of what safety precautions put into place can do. It's why we
haven't had a major airline death in over two years here in the US and why jet
crashes here occur far, far less than anywhere else in the world. Similarly, the
same protections fought for by labor unions have protected all American workers
whether they happen to be in one of those unions or not.
But the protection doesn't stop there.
The response to the ditching from both sides of the Hudson River was
instantaneous, as was the events which occurred on the jet itself. Passengers
testified to television audiences around the world that it took about 90 seconds
- that's one-and-a-half minutes - to get everyone off the plane.
And everyone of the 155 souls on board (150 passengers and five crew) did get
off the plane. The training associated with the protections put into place are
to thank for that.
We all make fun of that same old routine the flight attendants put us through as
our airliner taxis to take off. That demonstration is a part of the training
that added to the preparedness of the crew; their preparing of the passengers;
and their ability to get everyone off the plane safely.
With the exception of some very cold and very wet passengers, the only major
injury which occurred was two broken legs by one passenger.
Maybe the miracle was the planning itself.
Within what passengers called "seconds", NY Waterway, FDNY fireboats and other
ferries were out by the plane ready to take survivors - all of them - to safety.
And no less than three hospitals (two in New York and one in New Jersey) were
put on notice ready for survivors. St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan's
Greenwich Village area was one of them. For those of you who don't remember,
that's where the survivors were brought from the World Trade Center on September
11, 2001 and where vigils were held for those lost. The big treatment performed
by their emergency room doctors was for hypothermia.
I wasn't in New York on this particular day as my real job brings me all over
the metropolitan area. However, coming into New York City at least two days
every week - and the road I travel once there - allows me to notice things most
wouldn't. My route takes me from the Lincoln Tunnel down West 33rd Street.
During drills - practice for whatever emergency the NYPD might need to respond
to - dozens of police cruisers line up on my route in what appears to be a
get-ready state. I've noticed those same exercises being performed in the
Columbus Circle area at the gateway to Central Park.
More recently, I noticed a new training activity as well. On a day when the NYPD
was lined up on 33rd Street, while on my way up West Street and then the Hudson
River Parkway (which runs parallel and next to the Hudson River), I noticed
barges spaced a mile or two up river from each other spanning the river
width-wise. They were also staggered from east to west with the southernmost
barges closer to Manhattan and the northernmost closer to New Jersey.
Then there are the visible activities. Anyone traveling the New York City Subway
knows that there are many more police patrolling the platforms and cars.
All of these plans and activities are designed to keep us prepared and
protected. 155 people don't survive the ditching in the Hudson without it and
the American worker doesn't stand a chance without it either.
-Noah Greenberg
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-Noah Greenberg