I was stunned to see Beverly looking back at me when I logged onto CNN today. There she was, a portrait in a list of the dead from the Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, NY, last night. It turns out that Beverly Eckert, one of the most fearless of the 9/11 widows, and the woman I think about whenever I think about the victims of 9/11, was on the plane, among the 50 people killed in the still mysterious crash.
I met Beverly less than a year after 9/11. I was working on a story for Time Magazine about…
Last night, Capt. “Sully” explained to Katie Couric what it felt like to ditch US Airways 1549 in the Hudson River. It was remarkable TV, especially since 60 Minutes also talked to the crew (who have gotten far too little attention so far) and shot footage of a strange and joyful reunion between the crew and the passengers.
I was, first of all, struck by the familiarity of Capt. Sully’s all-business description of his initial reaction when both…
In the dead-tree version of Time this week, I have a piece on the crash of Flight 1549—and why it would never go down that way if it were a scene on the show 24.
I just watched Bill O’Reilly “interview” one of the survivors of the US Airways crash on Fox. I am reluctant to use the word interview since that would imply asking a question and then listening to the answer before talking again. But let’s put that aside for now.
Like most people, O’Reilly was absolutely convinced that there must have been panic and mayhem aboard the flight. He repeatedly questioned the survivor, a man who had barely dried off from a crash landing in the Hudson several hours before, about whether people were screaming and pushing on the plane. When…
When I saw the tail sticking up out of the water, I had a terrible feeling. Today’s crash of US Airways flight 1549 in New York was unnervingly similar to the crash of Air Florida flight 90, almost exactly 27 years ago to the day. Air Florida flight 90 crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, DC, on a frigid day, just moments after take-off. It was extremely difficult for people to get to the surface before the cabin filled with water and sank—and human beings do not generally do well in extremely cold water. Back then, of the 79…
NPR’s Talk of the Nation did a segment on the Denver crash today. They kindly invited me to join them, and they also asked to hear from listeners who had survived a plane crash. Sure enough, the survivors came calling. Some interesting anecdotes about carry-on baggage and shrieking flight attendants here.
The crash of the Continental Boeing 737 in Denver on Saturday was classic, if you can say that about a plane crash. It was a case study in how plane crashes actually happen—not how we imagine they happen.
We tend to assume that if your plane crashes, you’re doomed. The plane will plummet from the air in a terrifying free fall, and there is not a thing we can do but be very, very afraid. In fact, in most plane crashes, the accident happens during take off or landing (take off in this case) and the plane ends up…
The crash of the Spanair flight in Madrid on Wednesday was exceptionally awful, even within the already grim category of plane crashes. Only 19 of the 172 people on board survived. In most serious plane accidents, the survival rate is higher, and passenger behavior can make a big difference. (The cause of the crash is still unknown.)
In this case, I was particularly struck by the story of one survivor from the crash—a young boy who was rescued by a firefighter. Moments after he was pulled from the fiery wreck, he repeatedly asked the firefighter where his father was—and if…
