Feds Find Birds in Both Engines

Passengers Spirit put on downed jet had uphill battle in getting out of return ticket

(NEWSER) - An airline that canceled its own flight and placed passengers on US Airways 1549 will not, after all, charge them for canceling their return trip, WTIC-TV reports. “I need your credit card number,” a passenger on the jet that ditched in the Hudson River recalls a representative of Spirit Airlines saying, “and our policy is we’re going to charge you $90.” The airline has since said that “they will not be charged anything.” More»

Cool-headed captain has advised NASA, FAA

(NEWSER) - The US Airways pilot who saved the lives of his passengers and crew in yesterday’s crash landing was perfectly suited to the job: he’s a certified glider pilot and runs a safety company, the New York Post reports. After an apparent bird strike disabled the plane’s engines, the aircraft essentially became a glider, which Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenburger III guided into the Hudson River. More»

(NEWSER) - The National Transportation Board's view of the events that caused last weekend's crash over the Hudson River doesn't jibe with the FAA's, the Wall Street Journal reports. The NTSB chronology released yesterday suggests that errors from air traffic controllers—one of whom was one the phone to his girlfriend at the time of the crash—are partly to blame, while the FAA insists it has no reason to believe controller missteps played a role. More»

Controller failed to inform him, NTSB report finds

(NEWSER) - An air traffic controller failed to warn the pilot of a plane in last weekend's mid-air collision over the Hudson River, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled today. Chatting on the phone, the controller did not inform the pilot that "there were several aircraft detected by radar in the area immediately ahead of the airplane, including the accident helicopter," said the NTSB. The controller and his supervisor are on paid leave while the FAA begins disciplinary proceedings against them, the Star-Ledger reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Over the past few weeks, items both practical and sentimental have been returned to the lucky passengers of Flight 1549, the New York Times reports. Even ruined belongings are packed carefully in tissue paper and dryer sheets. “It made a very emotional experience as positive as it could have been,” said one passenger aboard the flight that went down in the Hudson River in January. More»