I hate flying. I do it anyway, but I hate it. I've done it a lot, out of necessity. I did it during my music business days, criss-crossing America and Europe on tour. I did it when I lived in Beirut and flew in and out of the war zone (out to escape the fighting, in when ceasefires took hold). I've flown from New York to Perth, halfway around the world (my wife is from there).
I joke that I come from a good anti-flying pedigree -- my aunt wrote Fear of Flying. Erica may have been referring to a different kind of flying, but the title aptly describes my family's attitude toward hurtling through the air in a sardine can at 500 MPH.
Which brings me to the topic of this post: there's a plane in the river under my window. I live in lower Manhattan and if I thought I'd escaped the craziness of Beirut, this neighborhood has proven to be equally prone to life's darkest surprises. September 11th, 2001 created the crater that I walk past everyday. Wall Street is a few blocks away, where for the past year shades of the Depression are back.
And this evening, a plane rests in the river near the beautiful, peaceful parks and walkways of Battery Park City.
Here are two photos I snapped earlier:
It is remarkable and wonderful that nobody died, thanks to the selflessness and professionalism of the pilots and crew and emergency workers.
Why do some people hate flying? My guess is because we don't want to watch death hurtling at us as we sit there, helpless. But of course that's exactly the position we're all in, flying or not.
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US Airways Plane Crashes In Hudson River (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Updated with photos, video and links.... Read all about the hero pilot Chelsey Sullenberger who saved the lives of 154 people Thursday. UPDATE 1/16/09, 11:50...
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Bird Strike: What May Have Brought Down The US Air Flight? (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
MSNBC is reporting that US Air Flight 1549, which has crashed into New York's Hudson River en route from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, NC, may...
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US AIRWAYS CRASH: WITNESS ACCOUNTS
Here are witness accounts of this afternoon's crash of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River in New York City: The New York Times...
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US AIRWAYS CRASH: SURVIVORS SPEAK
Developing and updated throughout the day Here are survivor accounts of the crash of US Airways flight 1549 into the Hudson River: UPDATE 1/15 9:59...
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MSNBC Booker Tries To Recruit US Air Victim On The Scene (VIDEO)
A man who was onboard the US Air flight that went down in New Yorks' Hudson River Thursday spoke to media shortly after being rescued,...
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Hudson River Plane Crash: Video Of Other Plane Crashes, Photos, Map
A US Airways jetliner crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a flock of birds apparently disabled both its engines. Rescuers pulled the...
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The Crash of Flight 1549: Maybe the Best Metaphor for 2009 We Could Hope For
Maybe the story of this jet crash is exactly the real life fable we needed seared into our nation's consciousness. What if yesterday's "miracle" was a perfect metaphor for 2009?
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Hudson Crash Required Journalists to Collaborate
The photographs taken at the site of the Hudson crash may be the best proof yet that citizen journalism is not only essential, but is here to stay.
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The Three Myths About Plane Crashes
How can you survive a plane crash? After going through the FAA's plane crash survival school in Oklahoma City and interviewing many experts and survivors of plane crashes, here are four key tips.
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US Airways Jet Floats Down the Hudson
The plane that left from LaGuardia and only got as far as the Hudson at 50th Street was towed past my window just now.
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This Wasn't a Landing, This Was a Die Hard Movie
If Chesley Sullenberger is being interviewed, and Alan Rickman suddenly shoots up out of the water, trying to take one last shot before he finally dies... don't say you weren't warned.
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The Miracle as a Metaphor: What We Can Really Learn From Flight 1549
Times are tough. Our economy has taken a triple bird strike and we've lost all engines and a wing. We are engaged in two wars, our unemployment rate is ratcheting up... but we can land this plane.
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Reading The Pictures: Surviving The Crash Of Dubya Air Flight 43
Just days before Obama's inauguration, it's hard not to equate the landing and rescue of US Air Flight 1549 on the Hudson River to the state of American politics.
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Pick your sardine can.
Re your last point, I think the difference between a plane and a bus or train is that there is solid ground under you for the second two. In a plane, if you stop, gravity takes over and you hurtle thousands of feet downward. I'm sure the physics is sound as to why it stays up in the first place, but I never took physics.
The audio tape was posted on the Internet yesterday. In it, the Islamic militant takes credit for falling a U.S. Airways jet. Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport when federal officials said it might have flown through a large flock of Canada geese.
"Al Qaeda has succeeded in recruiting fowl, renegade cows and common household cats in our jihad against the Satan America," bin Laden is translated as saying in his latest message. "The geese from Canada heroically gave their lives. We would also like to honour a cat in Utah for scratching a four-year old girl on the neck. Mrs. Pickles is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian people."
The outgoing Bush Administration took credit for outing the geese. "The President had received a memo in December that was titled 'Al Quacka About to Fly into a Jet Engine.' That's when we secretly initiated training among America's airline industry on how to deal with a 'bird strike'. The training paid off," said Paul A. Schneider, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
A 12-pound Cackling Goose, at a hastily called press conference near Blue Ball, PA, pleaded with Americans to not jump to conclusions. The bird asked for cool heads in light of this tragedy, "Honk. Honk, honk," he said.