I’m guessing that most of them knew that they wer going in the river at the end.
Because he didn’t have time to press the ditch buttom, the aircraft wasn’t sealed so started to take in water quickly, this may have hindered the putting on of life jackets, due to such little time.

Because he didn’t have time to press the ditch buttom, the aircraft wasn’t sealed so started to take in water quickly

I thought I heard he had hit the ditch button, a feature on the A320, which meant it stayed afloat longer than it would have otherwise …

I don’t get why people think the pilot was a hero, or hugely talented.

I would hope that all pilots would try to land the aircraft in the same way, rather than give up. The fact that the aircraft came down in one piece was purely luck!

I could be wrong but to the best of my knowledge its the only time a commercial aircraft has crash landed on water and not disintegrated. He was lucky nothing more..

anotherdeadhero – Member

Because he didn’t have time to press the ditch buttom, the aircraft wasn’t sealed so started to take in water quickly

I thought I heard he had hit the ditch button, a feature on the A320, which meant it stayed afloat longer than it would have otherwise …

Nope, they didn’t press it largely because – as mentioned – it was at the end of a massive checklist designed to be carried out from 35000ft, but they did it in about 3 mins from 3500ft.

It was more than luck! The pilot put the tail down first to slow the plane. This prevented the aircraft breaking up on impact. This was after he managed to swerve the George Washington suspension bridge. A skilled experience operator, but under tremndous pressure, he did very well indeed!