Saving Flight 1549
Ferry captains remember their part in ‘Miracle on the Hudson’
BY MAX PARROTT
As a New York Waterway
ferry captain, Vincent
Lombardi said that he
had rescued people out of the
water before and picked them
up from another boat. But
nothing could have prepared
him for the surreal experience
of recusing 56 passengers from
a sinking plane in the middle
of the Hudson River.
Even with his training
and experience, that was
new territory.
“There was no criteria
for pulling people off of a
plane. There was no manual,”
Lombardi said.
Lombardi was one of the 14
New York Waterway vessels,
which vaulted to rescue in reaction
to the crash of US Airways
Flight 1549, which later
became known as the “Miracle
on the Hudson” thirteen years
ago on Jan. 15, 2009.
After Captain Chesley “Sully”
Sullenberger’s plane was
struck by a fl ock of Canada
geese, the pilot expertly landed
the plane with a split-second
decision, a feat that drew national
attention and federal
LOCAL NEWS
Two New York Waterway ferries wait on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, across from
Midtown.
honors. The rescue effort didn’t
end there. Ferry crews responded
instantly, saving 143 of the
155 passengers and crew from
freezing winter waters before
the U.S. Coast Guard and the
New York City Fire Department
arrived to rescue the remaining
people.
If these ferry crews had not
responded as quickly as they
did, many people would have
died or suffered severe effects
of hypothermia, experts
have said.
It was 3:30 p.m. when Lombardi
witnessed the plane
gliding to a rest in the water
from the boat dock at West
39th Street. Fellow Captain
Manuel Liba, who also rescued
13 people from the plane,
described the initial shock of
the sight as something out of
science fi ction.
Lombardi’s immediate reaction
PHOTO BY MAX PARROTT
was to gather his crew. As
Lombardi’s crew gathered the
rescue equipment, he reminded
everyone to try and keep their
composure “because we don’t
know what kind of scene we’re
pulling up to.” He was next to
the plane in three minutes.
As his vessel slowly approached,
he had to be careful
not to create a wake because
there were passengers standing
out on the wing. Lombardi
carefully recalls maneuvering
his ship up to the plane so that
people could board from the tip
of the wing.
“There’s no way to prepare
for reality,” Lombardi said,
adding that after the initial
shock, his emergency training
did kick in and, with some expert
improvisation, helped him
accomplish the rescue.
The rescuees were taken
to the ferry terminals at West
39th Street in Manhattan and
Port Imperial in Weehawken,
New Jersey, where they began
to receive medical attention.
“Making it work, it was a
team effort,” said Liba.
To mark the anniversary
of the event, NY Waterway
Chairman, CEO and President
Armand Pohan commemorated
his staff for their training
and expertise. The crews
train routinely in water rescues
and have saved more than
100 people from the waters of
New York Harbor.
“The same men and women
who carry our riders to work
every day respond as heroes in
times of crisis. Because of our
crews’ training and professionalism,”
Pohan said.
Since that fateful day, Lombardi
said that he has stayed in
regular contact with some of
the members of the crew whom
he rescued.
“It’s wild every day I could
wake up and think that I was
part of an actual miracle. I
mean that really blows my
mind,” he said.
Adams wants his MTA board picks
to be genuine transit riders
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mayor Eric Adams wants
his recommended
MTA board members
to be regular straphangers, not
car drivers.
In the weeks ahead, Adams
will be able to propose four
people for the MTA’s 23-member
board, who will represent
his administration on the massive
state authority in charge
of the city’s subways, buses,
commuter railroads, and seven
bridges and two tunnels.
“We have several names
we’re looking at and we’re analyzing,
and I think all of these
guys and ladies should not be
in cars, they should get MetroCards,”
Mayor Adams told
reporters after an unrelated
press conference in Brooklyn
on Sunday, Jan. 17.
Hizzoner declined to say
who he has in mind for the
transit panel or if he intends to
keep on any members recommended
by former Mayor Bill
de Blasio, but lamented that a
number of people in charge of
the state’s public transit network
don’t regularly use it.
“If you really want to improve
the system, ride the system,”
he said. “I think far too many
people are making decisions for
various parts of these agencies
and institutions and they’re not
part of them.”
Rider advocates lauded Adams
saying that there are no
better transit representatives
than seasoned subway and
bus commuters.
“If you’re waiting for 18
minutes for a subway, then
you should be at that next
board meeting expressing your
frustration,” said Lisa Daglian,
executive director of the
MTA’s in-house rider council,
the Permanent Citizens
Advisory Committee.
“It shouldn’t be an occasional
occurrence. It should be a regular,
everyday way of life to be
underground,” she added.
The mayor’s recommendations
could still be vetoed by
Governor Kathy Hochul, who
controls the MTA; or rejected
MTA Board member Larry Schwartz during a 2019 meeting.
by the state Senate, which approves
all MTA board members.
The MTA full board consists
of 17 voting and six nonvoting
members — there is
currently one vacancy — and
meets monthly.
Members are tasked with
FILE PHOTO
fare and toll increases, changes
to service, and overseeing
the agency’s mammoth $18.7
billion annual budget.
The governor nominates
six voting members, the largest
single share, including
the chairperson.
24 January 20, 2022 Schneps Media