From the bottom of the Hudson...

These are four of about 25 shots emailed to me about the recent efforts to raise the downed airplane from the bottom of the Hudson River.


The water is a nasty shade of brown that I really hope is just from all the stirred up sediment. Some of the later shots that didn't make the cut showed huge ice chunks floating in the river. Going down in the river and then having to stand out on the wing waiting for rescue while hoping the boat arrived before the plane sunk must have been terrifying. The fact that no one was killed simply amazes me. The pilot and crew did an incredible job thinking fast under pressure. No wonder they were honored at the recent inauguration and at the Super Bowl yesterday. It would have been nice to also see a picture of the people all standing on the wing, but these pictures came about the plane's recovery. I'm sure a Google search would provide you the rescue pictures if you'd like.

I am reminded of the time just over 10 years ago now when my parents and I went to Hawaii. By the time the safety announcement had gotten to the point of saying, "A portion of this flight may be over water" I had already watched the friendly, safe shores of California slip away. I'm thankful we didn't have to go through what those passengers did, and even more thankful to not have been eaten by a shark. This won't stop me from flying as I have friends now in Germany that I'd really like to see again. On the contrary, it gives me hope and faith. The talented pilot and crew took care of this set of passengers, just as I would trust my future captains and flight crew to take care of me. Not every plane that crashes kills everyone. That is a myth. In some circumstances, death can't be avoided and if I'm ever on one of those flights, let's hope the end comes quickly. This is an example of where we need to trust in the bigger picture; trusting that we may not always be in control, but accepting the outcome all the same. As we never know when our end will come, I at least plan to work a little harder to make the time I've been given more valuable and rewarding; rewarding to me if not to everyone else as well.