A Miracle On The Hudson River, 10 Years Of A Story About Intuition And Skill

Here the captain speaks, all get into position of impact! That’s how Chesley B. Sullenberger, known as “Sully,” addressed his 150 passengers before performing what is now known as a miracle on the Hudson River. After colliding with a flock of birds and losing control of the engines, the experienced pilot disobeyed the orders received and followed his intuition: he landed successfully on the Hudson River.

This incident, which turned 10 years old in 2019, remains in everyone’s collective memory. For many, it was the most successful landing in aviation history. For others, however, it was gross imprudence. There are still those who believe that the ideal would have been to return to the airport and not have taken the risk of this feat with a happy ending to end up becoming a tragedy in New York.

However, it is precisely here, from the psychological point of view, that the most interesting story in the story of the Hudson River miracle is seen. Specialists in the field of sixth sense, intelligence and intuition, such as Malcolm Gladwell, studied this case to demonstrate that Captain Sully did not actually perform any “miracle”.

What he did was the feat of an expert. The crew themselves described, shortly afterwards, that the captain acted all the time with an unusual serenity. Even though the Airbus 320 was left without its engines, it behaved as if it had full control over the aircraft. And indeed it did.

The Hudson River miracle happened in just over three minutes. In that short period of time, his mind evaluated the situation, analyzed the options, and did what it believed was best.

The story of the miracle on the Hudson River

The report of the Hudson River miracle began at 3:25 pm on January 15, 2009. The flight departed from LaGuardia Airport in New York. The day had dawned cold and clear, and there was no impediment for US Airways Flight 1549 to take off.

In command was Captain Sullenberger, or “Sully,” a 57-year-old former US Air Force pilot. He had more than 20,000 hours of flight time, but still he could never imagine that he would have to go through that strange experience. Two minutes after takeoff, a flock of birds crashed into the Airbus cabin.

They were Canadian geese. The cabin darkened and passengers began to hear the impact of very strong blows. After a few seconds, something abnormal occurred. Unfortunately, it is common for these birds to crash into planes from time to time, but what is not so common is that the engines even shut down.

And that’s what happened.

Analyzing the best option

After impact, the aircraft began to fall, reaching a speed of 390 km/h at an altitude of 500 meters. Flight controllers began working on behalf of this aircraft at LaGuardia airport, giving priority to Flight 1549 returning to the airport. However, to everyone’s surprise, Captain Sully warned the tower that he would not return, ignoring orders.

Seconds later, he is notified that the nearest airport is Teterboro, Bergen County. However, Sully and his co-pilot make the same decision: deny orders.

Sully judged which would be the best option in just over a minute. Returning to LaGuardia airport would be imprudence without the engines running. Going to Teterboro airport wouldn’t be a very good strategy either. It was an airport with very short runways for a commercial plane as big as the Airbus. The best way out would be the Hudson River itself: they were going to land.

In the entire history of aviation, up to the date of the incident in 2009, only one large commercial aircraft had successfully landed. It was the Tupolev TU-124, in 1963. Captain Sully performed this landing with unusual skill, thus creating the miracle on the Hudson River.

Miracle on the Hudson River, an example of intuition, experience and skill

Hebert Simon, a renowned expert in social science, claims that people with experience in certain subjects develop a highly effective and intuitive mind. Captain Sully is undoubtedly an example of this.

Still, curious as it may seem, the months after this experience were hell for the captain of the Airbus 320.

As shown by Clint Eastwood in the movie “Sully”, the investigations carried out cast doubt on whether this had been the right move. Finally, after a rigorous process, it was proven that the captain used his experience to make the best decision, which saved the 150 passengers and crew.

It wasn’t a miracle, it was the maneuver of an expert

In reality, to speak of a miracle is to take credit for its protagonist. Malcolm Gladwell explains that these people are capable of reacting very effectively in times of need by using different strategies:

• Pattern Recognition. Even if they do not serve the same situations, they know how to recognize similar stimuli from previous experiences and make use of responses that, in the past, were helpful.

• They are profiles with high self-confidence and moderate behavior in difficult moments.
• Apply the right intuition. Gary Klein, renowned psychologist in behavioral studies, conducted an interesting study to demonstrate something curious. He claims that experienced minds don’t ask themselves what to do when there is a difficulty (they have no doubts). They just understand the situation they find themselves in, analyze it, and then know exactly how to act.

The so-called miracle on the Hudson River turned 10 years old in 2019. Recalling this story shows us not only the existence of true heroes, but also of people who fully trust their experience, their intuition and their sixth sense to achieve true feats.