Shades of "Sully" Sullenberger, who saved all of the 155 passengers on U.S. Airways flight 1549 when he successfully ditched an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River. A CareFlight pilot has been labeled a hero in Australia after successfully ditching in the Pacific Ocean.
CareFlight is an emergency rapid response aeromedical retrieval service based in Australia. In this case, a Pel-Air Westwind jet was taking a woman from Samoa to Melbourne for treatment following an operation. The plane was scheduled to refuel at Norfolk Island, but could not, due to inclement weather.
After several passes, unable to land due to the weather, and with the plane running out of fuel, the pilot-in-command, Captain Dominic James, made a controlled landing on the ocean. The patient, her husband, two medical crew and two pilots evacuated safely.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has begun an investigation into the incident. Despite that, John Sharp, chairman of Pel-Air Aviation which operated the flight for CareFlight, has made up his mind. He says Dominic James is a hero.
Sharp pointed to the professionalism of not just the captain, but the first officer. He stated that it was a perfect landing on the water, which considering the survival aspects of the flight, is likely true.
"They landed at night, approximately we think about 9.30 local time and as a result of the skill of the pilots the aircraft landed in the water and none of the passengers were injured."
"Sully" Sullenberger was hailed a hero after ditching the Airbus into the Hudson River. The event was called the "Miracle on the Hudson." Sully only recently began flying again.
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