Birds collide with jet / plane lands on water / preflight safety lessons relevant

MSNBC reported that a flock of geese went into the intake engine of US Airways 1549, causing at least one engine to fail. (The flight was from LaGuardia Airport, heading to Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina.)

One passenger, interviewed on WNBC-TV, said that he saw left engine burn up. Recent reports say that both engines blew out. (PopSci.Com: "Explaining the US Airways Crash")

The engines went out too soon for the pilot to guide the flight to an airport at Teterboro, in that other state, New Jersey. Accordingly, the pilot turned the plane southward, to steer into the Hudson River. Given the rapidly falling altitude, the plane missed the George Washington Bridge by 900 feet.

The pilot guided the flight to the Hudson River, roughly at the latitude of 48th Street. Fortunately, all of the 150 passengers were able to take rescue rafts and reach land alive.

WCBS-TV reports that the moment that birds pose the greatest to planes is right at take-off.

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Well, this proves that it is worth putting down the Sky Mall magazine and paying attention to the safety directions.

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We are awaiting former mayor Rudy Giuliani's accusing the birds of ties to Al-Qaeda.

UPDATE:
From democraticunderground:
"Please note airlines are trying to get rid of older pilots that make more. This is a great reason to keep the experienced pilots where they belong, in the pilots seat!"
DU post linked to this opinion piece on Examiner.com.