US Air flight crashes into Hudson River.

[Ghoulish Delight]

There is one unanswered question that may put some liability on US Air.

A bird strike should not bring down a jet liner. Geese are big, and perhaps it was just an unlucky hit in just the right place at just the right time. But the engine in question had just had work done (replaced air compressor if I recall) a week earlier. So it may be that the work wasn't done right which left the engine unable to withstand a strike that it would normally survive.

That said, anyone asking for anything beyond minor compensatory settlement (I think a handful of free tickets is a fair price) for anyone walking away with minor injuries is a greedy whore.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

A bird strike should not bring down a jet liner.

Is this correct? I can't find it with a quick search but a Slate article after it happened said that jet engines are rated to functionally survive bird impacts up to a certain weight (4 pounds I think) and that geese are generally above that weight.

So if that's correct*, the poor luck of having geese hit all engines might reasonably be expected to bring the plane down.

Regardless of liability I would expect, though, plenty of lawsuits and if the plaintiffs are somewhat reasonable in their greed plenty of settlements.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

There is one unanswered question that may put some liability on US Air.

A bird strike should not bring down a jet liner. Geese are big, and perhaps it was just an unlucky hit in just the right place at just the right time. But the engine in question had just had work done (replaced air compressor if I recall) a week earlier. So it may be that the work wasn't done right which left the engine unable to withstand a strike that it would normally survive.

That said, anyone asking for anything beyond minor compensatory settlement (I think a handful of free tickets is a fair price) for anyone walking away with minor injuries is a greedy whore.

From the descriptions I heard here, it was not so much a bird strike as a flock strike affecting both engines. One report stated that engines are rated to withstand a hit from a bird up to 5 lbs. Geese are significantly larger than that.

We know the engine still attached to the plane had "organic" matter in it. As long as the second engine has bird goo as well I think US Air is in the clear.