Gliding to a Soft Landing

Last year the words “soft landing” appeared frequently in the press. They were used to describe the economy. Today “crash” is the word we hear most often. For a few days in January, the media moved Wall Street and the economy to page 2. "The Miracle on the Hudson" became the lead story. A select few really understand how this could happen. The emergency landing of US Airways flight 1549 was not a miracle, but the result of a crew that remembered their training, and a pilot with a glider rating who understood and had experienced “off-field landings”.

For many years I flew gliders, or sailplanes as they are known to those in the sport. Racing sailplanes is very similar to sailboat racing but with a third dimension. I was a Naval Aviator for 5 years flying carrier-based jets. I have flow many different aircraft. Sailplanes have always been my favorite. It was in these aircraft I really developed my flying skills.

The article (click this link), “Training for that Moment When Every Second Counts”, explains how Captain “Sully” Sullenberger accomplished the amazing feat of saving his passengers and crew. In this article you will see a couple of pictures including one of a sailplane water landing.

My sailplane was a LS1-f (similar to the one below). I landed it often “off-field” but never in water.

New York, New York

It would have been impossible for anyone to have missed the amazing story of US Air Flight 1549, and the heroes of this event – the crew and first responders. However, some may have missed a story in USA Today only a few days before, “Airlines Go Two Years With No Fatalities”. When a flock of Canadian geese tried to end this streak, New Yorkers saw to it that everyone aboard was safely on ferry boats that beat NY Fire Department rescue boats to the sinking plane. As a write this a New York City parade of heroes is being talked about.

One man, who should be in the parade and probably will not, is a former New York City cop. Nick Sabatini, the FAA’s Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, retired at the end of 2008. Nick began civilian life by joining the NYC police department after completing a tour with the Army where he was a helicopter pilot. In 1979 he joined the FAA and he spent next 30 years with a safety bone in his teeth. No one person can lay claim to the outstanding safety record that all aviation enjoys, but no one doubts that Nick made a significant contribution.

Food for Thought

Many years ago I met Wilbur Ross who was a college and business school classmate of a friend of mine. Since that meeting Ross has become a billionaire. He began his business career (he first aspired to be a writer) by gluing back the wrecks of Michael Milken's junk-bond financings. Last fall he was interviewed on National Public Radio. He talked about one of his newest investments, SpiceJet, a low-cost airline in India. During the interview he elaborated on one of the reasons for his investment in SpiceJet:

“India is a very large land mass, very large distances between the major population centers, but ground transportation is very, very difficult. They've not put enough into infrastructure for roads or even railroads to make that a very good means of transport. So air transport, we think, is uniquely important to India.”

I found this interesting because the same can be said about many other emerging economies, such as China, Russia, etc. And when you think about it - how easy is it to get to places like Spring Hill, Tennessee (the location of the original Saturn plant) or many other small factory towns in the United States? Driving, taking a train, or bus is not practical when speed is of the essence to restart a shut-down assembly line.

The three Detroit automobile CEOs should have taken a page from Lee Iacocca when he came begging for loan guarantees in he early 1980s. Iacocca replied to the grandstanding congressmen when they suggested he sell his company’s Gulfstream jet, “OK, I’ll sell it, but I will be damned if I know how I will run Chrysler’s plants in small towns all over the USA. I guess will just have to lease it back.” And that’s what he did, and he saved Chrysler.

How Iacocca got to Washington is not known, but it was not the public relations disaster of last fall. The Washington offices of the car companies advised the CEO not to fly to Washington in their companus’ jets. Thet ignored the advice and the rest is history.

And where is Iacocca when we need him. Well he is back and has written a new book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? If you have an answer, post a comment below.