The Crash of Flight 1549: Maybe the Best Metaphor for 2009 We Could Hope For

It started for me with a "CNN Breaking News" email at 12:57PM California time. I never fail to click these, and in a post-9/11 world I always hold my breath too. Whenever I read the first line, I'm hoping I don't see words like explosion, killed, or hostage. But yesterday, it was the type of news alert, that in the age of ubiquitous commercial travel, we all dread: "Emergency officials are responding to a downed US Airways plane in New York's Hudson River."

Fuck. My heart raced as I turned on the news and thought about my mother who had just sent me a text saying, "I'm on!! I'm on the plane!!!" I knew she meant she was on her delayed Southwest flight from Los Angeles to D.C., but I still shook at the thought of her flying at that moment. It would be a few minutes before I learned that flight 1549's passengers were presumed to all be safe too.

What? But how? All of them? There's no way all of them got out safely. Is there?

I am not a person of faith, but I can go for some cosmic interference every now and again, even if it can be explained by simple physics and not actually the "hand of god." I spent yesterday day marveling at news, eyewitness and survivor reports, while sharing thoughts with Facebook friends. But as I reflected, the events and exchanges soon got me thinking: What if yesterday's "miracle" was a perfect metaphor for 2009?

Yes, the NTSB will report what happened on the afternoon of January 15, and it will make perfect sense. But on the day George Bush said his last goodbyes to the nation. Less than a week before the president-elect takes the keys to the White House. And as each news report peels back another layer of this tear-inducing onion of an economic mess, maybe the story of this jet crash is exactly the real life fable we needed seared into our nation's consciousness.

I don't say this lightly, nor to I mean to cheapen what must have been a harrowing experience for some to watch, much less experience first hand. But the poetry of the event is just too perfect. Plane crashes kill and maim. Many of us shroud our fear with a couple Xanax or a few Vodka rocks. And it's a justifiable, if not entirely rationale, fear. You don't need to even fall out of the sky to die in a plane crash, a fuselage skid on the tarmac can take lives. But a ditch into near freezing waters of a fully loaded and fueled commercial airliner and zero fatalities? It doesn't happen. It literally hasn't happened. Ever.

So what if this water landing--an event that was never supposed to end well, but did--serves as an example of the fate that awaits us this year? I know, get my head out of my mumbo jumbo ass. But bare with me for a second. You couldn't have imagined it all turning out this way when you heard the news today. It never does, no matter how hard we pray it will. People don't just walk away. As a group. Unharmed.

In 1993's Fearless, Jeff Bridges plays a plane crash survivor who, realizing he's somehow cheated his most terrifying fear and lived, is conflicted about how to lead his life. The crash of flight 1549 might not change our attitudes and make all of us exactly fearless, but it should at least make us thankful. And it could surely be a template for the actions and reactions we could hope for this year.

Maybe the questions many of us have about how we'll fair in 2009 and in what shape financially, spiritually, emotionally, is somewhat answered in the events of yesterday. Think of how that plane landed at just at the right location on the Hudson River. An area where ferry traffic was thick (Another miracle in that no boats were hit in the plane's descent) and commercial dock boats were in constant movement around the piers.

Within seconds of the picture perfect ditch, boats were making their way to the site like arms extending from the shore. Is that the kind of quick response and compassionate, holistic rescue package the country's economy truly needs? Is it the one we can hope for in the new administration? If that's the ailing and anxious American public standing on those wings, waiting for help, then could they have asked for a better rescue? A more caring show of support?

And what about that Pilot, Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger? It would be easy to take my metaphor to mean he must be Barack Obama. Maybe. But this isn't even about politics--just like it wasn't about that inside the crippled plane. Nobody cared what party the pilot belonged to as they watched the water fall towards their windows. They were just thankful--and praying--a competent and composed individual was at the helm. After the crash, the pilot walked the length of the plane, not once, but twice, to ensure that no passengers were left aboard as the water rose. Everybody gets out alive he thought to himself. Doesn't matter how we all got into this mess, we are going to get to shore.

The captain wasn't alone. The ferry passengers who reached out to victims. The firefighters and police. The guy on the flight who yelled, "women and children first," were all part of the rescue effort. But they weren't all experts. The only common thread was that there was a crisis and lives--fellow citizens--needed saving. From all reports, there was no desperate dash or chaotic frenzy. It was the kind of order and calm you want from the person next to you. Not everybody for himself. But everybody for somebody else too.

In a few months, it's doubtful that whatever message there is in today's events will be as lucid to me. But maybe the metaphor is that we all fear the great crash. We're all unsure of that day where we may be asked to consider what we'd do when the pilot says, "Brace for impact!" Our country already has a catastrophic engine failure and none of knows how this flight will end. And what are we doing about it? Are we in the crash position? Are we hoping for a heroic pilot to land this sucker safely? Are we stoically wishing it--whatever it is--comes quickly and painlessly?

Or maybe if flight 1549 tells us anything, it's that it all might go well after all. Just like it did today. And we'll get out alive. In one piece. As one family. All survivors.

Comments

[Rjchinook]

It couldn't have been said better! I didn't hear about the crash until I was on my way home from work and this was my first thought while listening to Ronald Reagan Jr. talking about on his radio show.

[Artos]

While I'm at it, I should point out that none of what happened in this Pilots choosing to land in the Hudson was an "accident". The portion of the River he choose was perfect for two reasons. It is straight and wide and long enough first of all, and secondly where he finally came down is right where all the ferry activity is usually. The ferry wharves were very close to hand as well. The only other reason he could have chosen to come down in the river at all was because it would help to prevent a fire on board since the engines would consume water almost immediately. Some passengers thought they smelled jet fuel and since the possibility of a fire is higher on land touchdowns, bringing it down in the river was the smart thing to do. The only really miraculous thing about it at all is the fact that the plane kept level. had it tilted to one side or the other, we might have had a repeat of that plane landing that happened in the 90s where half or more of the passengers died because the wing made contact with the ground and caused the plane to cartwheel. Thank the Pilots military background for the fact that he had proper skills for a water landing.

[Artos]

This miracle survival of flight 1549 is a metaphor to this new Presidency and our future hopes, as the destruction of the Columbia was the perfect metaphor for the catastrophe that Bushs presidency was for Americans.

[ApolloSpeaks]

FLIGHT 1549 , GEORGE BUSH AND 9/11

Flight 1549 was a metaphor for Barck Obama? Not a chance! This miracle had 9/11 and George W. Bush written all over it! Aboard the flight was the brother of a 9/11 victim; and when the plane was safely evacuated it drifted down river from midtown Manhattan to the site of Ground Zero. The miraculous landing of 1549 was a fitting tribute to George W. Bush on the day he gave his Farewell Address reminding us of the remarkable job he did in steering the ship of state, our nation and its people, to safety after 9/11.

[OKRevmar]

He became president in January of 2001 -- well before 9/11.
Not such good steering!!

[damorris1]

Nice article. That's all I can say. I wish I had thought of this first. Thanks for this enlightening post.

[NHGranite]

Everything worried me lately, I just couldn't think of a future that turned out well. Then there was this crash, where things that were so bad turned out so well, and you pinpointed the reasons. A calm hand at the helm, a slew of people who went to work together immediately even though it "wasn't their job" and scared people who listened and stayed orderly in spite of their terror. What a country! Thank you, Mr Sullenberger, for making my start of the year less worrisome, and thank you, Mr Roker for pointing out why so clearly. Whew - it's nice to breathe again.

[lakat]

Raymond, what you wrote is EXACTLY what I have been experiencing since I first heard the news about Flight 1549 yesterday! It completely turned me around from my dark mood, lightened considerably by Barack Obama's becoming President but really, still feeling frightened by what is happening and wondering what will happen to my artist husband and I who depend on the sales of his beautiful Haitian watercolor paintings. I feel heartened, optimistic and I feel that this is a good omen of things to come, a turning of the tide, an out with the old and in with the new. Yes, maybe things will be okay.

I'm happy to tears.

[mulberry26]

The pilot from California, the support from New York City....bo­th places considered elitist, and not considered "real America" by Sarah Palin. If this is how elitists respond to emergencies - then let them take leadership positions! All Americans can take pride in being elitists - ready to work together, use training to handle difficult situations. Now this is a country I can be proud of.

[apoyo]

I've been in a braced position for awhile. Starting Tuesday I can relax a little and look out the window.

[mmz]

Wow! I just finished saying to my mom, that I hope this miracle is the first of many for 2009! My sentiments exactly!

[kalbi taco]

This post made my day. Thank you.

[maxxine]

I would just like to say that I am a big fan of yours Mr. Roker. Literally, I am a fan of yours on Huffpost, so I get alerts whenever you post something. As a result of this, I signed up to receive URB everyday and I love it. Being 45 years old reading URB makes me feel like I am still that young girl who was one of the few white people if not the only white girl at the premiere of Krush Groove in New York. I have since learned that Q-tip was also in the audience that night in the same theater. I cried during the movie because I realized history was being made. It was the first time in history people, all people, saw how successful you could be doing that. "who's house is this" RUN's HOUSE!!!!!!!!!! People everywhere saw that! I cried.

[kim7654321]

Wow. Absolutely terrific post. Thank you.

[justinemaya]

This was the first thing I read this morning...­and hooray! I am shedding my first tears of the day. Why? There could be several reasons all wrapped up into one
-I guess hopeful that the metaphor is true...mov­ed again, as we all were, the night Obama got elected.
-Shocked and frightened and relieved by the whole crash situation. When I first read about it yesterday, it reminded me of when I was on a plane and the engine caught fire and we were forced to land in Halifax and stay in quarantine for 8 hours because we were in another country. It was scary as sh** and we all made it.
-Saddened by the state of our economy and the world
-Moved by humans actually being human.
etc....etc­...etc...
Good article...­hopeful article...­hope hope hope xo

[cc]

The big bird crashes and everyone survives. No mystery here if you've read Jane Roberts' "The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events." So now we need a new bird--how about one that isn't a predator, like maybe a dove? And lets get a new national anthem too while we're at it--one that's pretty and doesn't glorify war and winning. I suggest "America the Beautiful" :-)

[ricitizen]

The dove and "America the Beautiful," both would be wonderful changes for what I believe is the true beginning of the 21st century. Perhaps one day....per­haps.

[lakat]

It is the dawning of the age of Aquarius..­.harmony and understanding, etc. Humanity before greed, please.