Ce post est une carte blanche à un de mes amis, rescapé du désormais célèbre vol 1549 d’US Airways. En bref, nous étions ensemble, au même événement, à New-York.
Américain habitant à Paris, il profite du voyage professionnel aux States pour prendre un vol intérieur et aller saluer sa famille et ses amis… Son vol initial annulé, il se retrouve sur le 1549; la suite est connue.
Je l’ai revu avant mon départ, le samedi 16. J’étais sous le choc. Je prenais un verre avec lui, alors que pour pas greand chose, j’aurais pu assister à ses obsèques. A quoi tiens la vie…
Je reproduis ici - avec son aimable autorisation - un email qu’il nous a envoyé et où il relate les faits. Les photos en fin d’articles sont les siennes.
“Dear friends,
Thanks for your many messages, thoughts and prayers over the past several days. They’ve all been a huge help. This is the first chance I’ve had to write following last week’s plane crash in the Hudson River.
Apparently lightening really does strike twice. In 1987, I was on a plane that nearly crashed after takeoff from LA, and on Thursday I found myself on US Airways flight 1549. Just imagine my reaction when I heard the pilot announce “brace for impact”. Will anyone ever want to take a plane with me again ? 
In coming days I’ll be happy to share more details with you, but here’s a summary of what happened. I was in New York for a major retail conference and planned to visit a close friend in Virginia for the weekend. My direct flight was cancelled and I was re-booked via Charlotte, NC — so I wasn’t even supposed to be on flight 1549. I had seat 12F, over the wing, just behind the second exit row. About 2 minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia I saw a brown “cloud” of birds, followed by several large thuds and the smell of burnt meat. The passenger next to me and I discussed that the engines were designed to handle bird strikes.
About 30 seconds later the pilot told us to “brace for impact” and the cabin was eerily quiet. We headed down the Hudson and it appeared we were aiming for Newark Airport. But our altitude decreased dramatically. I took out a business card and quickly wrote “I love you” to my mom and sister, and then shoved the card in my pocket so it wouldn’t get separated from me on impact. The crash felt similar to a speedboat hitting a wave with a lot of force. The plane tilted slightly to the right and I was terrified that we were going to flip over or cart-wheel (which would have been tragic). We quickly came to a stop and I was amazed that the cabin was intact. From that point on I had a sense we were all going to make it out ok.
Water gradually streamed onto the cabin floor. There was ample time for everyone to exit. I initially stood on the right wing, however it was very crowded. I saw through the plane that there were fewer people on the left wing, so I re-entered the plane. The water was knee-deep and I must have been one of the last passengers to see the inside of the cabin. I made my way onto the left wing and tried to help a woman who had fallen into the water. A helicopter hovered nearby, and the resulting wind gusts sprayed water onto the wings. Ice quickly formed and we struggled to remain standing. After about 10 minutes the ferries arrived. Initially they had difficulty manoeuvring due to the current and the shifting position of the plane. One ferry actually hit the plane’s wing twice. In the following photo, I’m the one in the red circle, holding onto a red seat cushion.
I was one of the last people standing on the left wing when I climbed up a rope ladder to board a ferry. There were only three passengers on my ferry and the captain raced us to the New Jersey ferry terminal. About 40 other passengers were taken to this staging point (the rest went to Manhattan). They separated us into two groups, depending on whether or not we required medical care. An hour later we were moved to a nearby community center. Local volunteers took our wet clothes. They smelled of jet fuel, so they actually washed and dried them in their homes. The police took down our names and gave us an option to stay the night in New Jersey, return to LaGuardia Airport or go elsewhere. I returned to LaGuardia with about 15 others. Finally, at 10 pm I made my way to my cousin Charlotte’s apartment in Manhattan.
On Friday representatives from US Airways reached out to me. They arranged for my mom and sister to fly the same day from Seattle to spend the weekend in NYC, covering all expenses at the Ritz Carlton. The airline also took me shopping, since all my clothes were in the plane’s submerged luggage hold. On Sunday we saw the wreckage after it was hauled out of the Hudson, bringing back lots of emotions. On Monday evening US Airways arranged for me to fly back to Paris in first class on Air France. Needless to say, the take-off was tense. Overall, I have enormous respect for US Airways: the amazing pilot miraculously saved our lives, but the post-crash treatment has also been outstanding.
Thanks again for your thoughts and support.
And be thankful — each day is truly a blessing and a gift !!
all the best, Eric”
Merci pour ce témoignage très émouvant et intéressant. Bon rétablissement à ton ami.
Il faut vraiment souligner le professionnalisme du pilote. Je cite Scott Adams (super post sur son blog, btw) :
“This was no lucky landing. Sullenberger, or Sulley as he is known by friends, was a straight-A student in school, with a genius level IQ. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy as the top aviator in his class of 1973. He majored in psychology at the academy and used that knowledge to open a safety-consulting firm on the side. He was also an experienced glider pilot, which comes in handy if your airliner loses its engines. In short, this pilot, considered an old man by many standards, had acquired over his lifetime every skill necessary for this specific situation, and he executed perfectly. [...] He reminded us what competence means and he proved in spectacular fashion that it still exists.”
http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_avatar/