January 30, 2009

"Land it in the Hudson"

"An expression used to encourage yourself or someone else when it appears an endeavor is headed for a disastrous outcome (due mostly to external conditions). Based on when Sully averted tragedy by successfully landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. See also, 'Land it like Sully.'"
The company is on the brink of failure, so let's Land it in the Hudson.

15 comments:

traditionalguy said...

That amazing landing is the only example of real world Hope working out anyone has seen in so long. The Kill Bush's Reputation crusade censored all reports of such events for 4+ years. I want to see someone land the financial markets "in the Hudson", but our pilot is only trained in comforting survivors. He will be real disappointed if the Economy lands without any deaths and injuries.

Bob said...

I think that most of my sexual experiences since I turned forty have been of the Land It In The Hudson variety, unfortunately.

*laughs*

Unknown said...

I have been in a timeout corner for 8 years. Please fill me in on all the great thing Bush did that have been censored.

Fred Drinkwater said...

My father once had this kind of choice in the real world. He was flying an F4 Corsair over Korea when an "evil-minded North Korean" put a bullet through his oil cooler, causing the engine to seize up almost immediately. He could either bail out or try to land somewhere. He put it down wheels-up on a beach, on the friendly side of the battle line. As a result we have a nice collection of photos showing him standing by the nose of the plane, all four prop blades bent back around the cowling (from sliding on the sand). He says "you have to be crazy to bail out if the wings are still attached".
How all this applies to the current financial situation is left as an exercise for the reader.

Palladian said...

"Based on when Sully averted tragedy by successfully landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. See also, 'Land it like Sully.'"

This Sully has sullied the name 'Sully' forever.

Wince said...

He says "you have to be crazy to bail out if the wings are still attached".

Is that advice specific to the battlespace where you can be shot/drift into enemy territory during a slow parachute decent?

traditionalguy said...

Nathan... I don't know what great things Bush did himself except not surrender. My point was the refusal to print Good News on any victories of the Marines in Iraq, for example. War news is always mixed, but the real hard fought victories were played down to make it seem as if nothing good could come out of our wins in Iraq. Give the country a good headline and we could have keep going another few months, so our headlines were reserved for Sen. Reid's comments and Abu Gahraib Hazing photos.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Land it in the Hudson

Like the Spanish adagio De tripas corazón.

Fred Drinkwater said...

EDH: Actually, no. In his day it made good sense to try to stay with the plane. Even today, unless you are flying some hot, deliberately unstable fighter, it's true. The survival rate of "off-field landings" is very high, provided the plane is under control when it contacts the ground. See, for example, the Sioux City incident, vs. the everglades crash about 15 years ago.
In the Century series fighters and many later hot planes, the usual rule is more like:
Q: Is there something wrong?
A: Punch out immediately.

Also, ejection seats are notorious for causing serious back injuries. (There's a very weird incident involving an ejection from a Marine A4 Skyhawk from my father's squadron; if you're curious email me at fred.drinkwater@gmail.com)

Chris said...

We all know perfectly well that "Land it on the Hudson" is destined to make every list of annoying/forbidden phrases for the end of 2009. Let's be preemptive this year and stop using it now.

Meade said...

Which preposition is it - in or on?

I would prefer on.

Thank you.

Bob said...

Meade said:
Which preposition is it - in or on?

I would prefer on.


That's one of the late George Carlin's famous routines:

Get ON the plane, get ON the plane!

Fuck you, I'm getting IN the plane!

paul a'barge said...

Obama: "Rahm, we've over played our hand. Even the Politico folks who previously were in our pocket are bashing us on this Stimulus Plan"

Rahm: "Sir, Land it in the Hudson".

JAL said...

nathan said...
I have been in a timeout corner for 8 years. Please fill me in on all the great thing Bush did that have been censored.


No big whoop made out of the Bush Administration Africa AIDS initiative. Had to find a scattered reference here and there. Not many above the fold pictures of Bush being feted and honored on his trip to Africa. (Did anyone know he went to Africa?)

And now of course, the Obama Administration has decided that the doctor, Mark Dybul (who is gay), who was appointed by President Bush to manage the fabulous program PEPFAR, had to go. On less than one day's notice. Nice work Obama Administration.

The first five years of PEPFAR represent the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in human history.

Those evil Republicans.

blake said...

Yeah, the Dybul thing is pretty despicable.