4 ms·
> What’s the difference between Sullenberger, who was able to innovate solutions in the face of imminent death, and Liao, who apparently panicked and shut down
by probabilistic 12y ago
> What’s the difference between Sullenberger, who was able to innovate solutions in the face of imminent death, and Liao, who apparently panicked and shut down the wrong engine?
They mentioned Sullenberger's experience, but he also had more than twice the altitude when he lost engine power. Still an emergency, but he had a bit more time to think about it.
- marktangotango 12y agoThat was my observation as well, the two incidents were completely different, loss of one engine at take off, and loss of both engines a little further into flight. IMO the author commits a disservice to the Asian pilot for not making this explicit.
- mikeash 12y agoThat's just the thing, though: Liao had all the time in the world to think about it. There was no imminent danger, until he created it. Losing an engine on takeoff is a bona fide emergency, but the only immediate actions you need to take are to keep the airplane straight and keep your speed up. For everything else, you can take your time and analyze. Sully, on the other hand, had a minute or two before he was going to run out of altitude, no matter what he did. Every moment counted there, in a way that it definitely didn't count in the Taipei crash (until the pilot made it that way).
- CPLX 12y agoThis attitude is mistaken. Sullenberger had no good choices and was going to crash, his scenario was far more dire. The Taipei flight had a perfectly fine engine and there is no reason for any of this to happen. The plane could fly just fine with one engine out.