• US Airways Flight 1549
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FLIGHT 1549

What began as a normal flight suddenly turned into something far from normal. US Airways Flight 1549 departed New York's LaGuardia airport shortly after 3 pm. Within minutes of becoming airborne the crew faced a seemingly impossible situation.

While the investigation of Flight 1549 will take months to complete we do know this much - the skill and professionalism of the entire crew made all the difference.

Never in the history of aviation has a commercial jet made a perfectly successful emergency water ditching. That history is forever changed now because of the actions of the crew of flight 1549.

Over the next few weeks, much will be written and spoken regarding the skill of the pilots as they guided the crippled aircraft down. The pilots did a remarkable job.

Once the aircraft came to rest in the water, the years of experience and training of the Flight Attendants took over . All 150 passengers were safely evacuated and the crew was the last to exit the aircraft. That did not happen because of luck. The only way this happened was because Flight Attendants are first and foremost Safety Professionals, trained for an event such as occurred yesterday afternoon.

The media is calling the event the, "Miracle on the Hudson". Obviously the end result was remarkable. Others may judge the result as a miracle but from my point of view I believe what happened yesterday was "Professionalism on the Hudson". Clearly, the entire crew were heroes.

Flight Attendants are often not viewed as the Safety Professionals that we are. I know that for at least the150 people aboard Flight 1549 yesterday Flight Attendants are now looked at in a new light and the world should be reminded that Flight Attendants are safety professionals whose primary purpose onboard an aircraft is to save lives.

We are all so proud of the crew of flight 1549 - but we also know that any one in our profession would have performed in the same manner.

Thank you,

Mike Flores, President
The US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA

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AFA Local Numbers
 
Council 41 DCA 703-212-8090
Council 69 BOS 781-289-8454
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 315-736-3483
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325

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