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Faith, training combine for 'Miracle on the Hudson'
Donna Dent
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Published: March 1, 2009
Donna Dent, the Winston-Salem flight attendant who was working on US Airways Flight 1549 when it made that amazing landing in New York's Hudson River Jan. 15, said she felt like her prayer for help was answered.
"I think he (God) definitely had a little something to do with the outcome," she told me last week. "I definitely believe in the power of prayer. He was there."
Lisa English of Charlotte, one of the passengers, agreed. She told me in an e-mail that there were a lot of prayers on that plane. "There is nothing like … smelling smoke and hearing the words ‘brace for impact' to really intensify the prayers and a realization that that this may be it."
The air traffic controller who communicated with Flight 1549 told a House subcommittee last week that "People don't survive landings on the Hudson River."
The safe landing, which happened after the plane hit a flock of Canada geese that cut its engines, seemed providential. One of the best, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a former Air Force fighter pilot and emergency expert, was at the controls. And once he made the landing, ferries were ready to help the passengers and crew off the downed aircraft as it took on water.
It really does seem like God was looking out for Flight 1549.
Google "God" and "Flight 1549" and you get more than 400,000 hits. Among those hits are a lot of believers, as well as those asking a good question: What about the plane crashes that leave no survivors, such as the one in the Buffalo area just a month after the Flight 1549 landing? Many of the passengers on that plane were probably praying as well. Why did they die and the passengers of Flight 1549 live?
After the Buffalo flight, English said in her e-mail, there were numerous e-mails between the passengers who'd been on Flight 1549. "It was very emotional for all of us," wrote English, who grew up in High Point. "Why couldn't they have had the same outcome?"
Such questions are as old as religion itself. Perhaps some religions were started, at least in part, to provide answers.
When I reported on religion for the Journal, I used to ask religious leaders why some people survive tragedies and others don't. I never got a satisfactory answer. Some pastors say "it was just somebody's time" and "God called them home."
I believe in God, but I think luck plays a role in tragedies, too. So does being prepared. There's probably a lot of truth in the old saying about God helping those who help themselves.
I'm scared every time I fly. Yes, statistically, it's a lot safer than driving. But not if you're on the plane that goes down.
I pray every time I get on a plane.
I also pay attention when the flight attendants tell passengers what to do in case of an emergency. I didn't always. If the plane crashed, I'd be dead anyway, I figured. But after reading a few stories about people who survived crashes, I decided to pay attention to the emergency instructions. The Wednesday crash of a jetliner in the Netherlands shows that survivability is a real possibility today because of advances in aircraft technology.
But the best anyone could hope for when disaster strikes is to be on a plane with a top-notch crew. Sullenberger's piloting was sterling, as the whole world knows. His co-pilot and the three flight attendants worked quickly with him to get the passengers off the plane safely once it landed. Pilots such as Sullenberger should be paid more, and so should their crews, as was made clear by the testimony of Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles before the House subcommittee last week.
Dent, who had never experienced a major disaster while flying, coolly applied years of emergency training. She helped passengers off the plane until she, Sullenberger and Skiles were the last ones on it.
"As soon as I boarded a raft, a gentleman stood up in it and said, ‘Folks, can I lead you in prayer?' I was grateful that he did," Dent said.
"God had a hand in it. He helped me do what I needed to do."
Now, Dent said, maybe people will realize that flight attendants are more than just "waitresses in the sky."
Allen Joines, the mayor of Winston-Salem, had this to say in a letter he recently wrote Dent on behalf of himself and the city council: "Thank you for helping avert this possible disaster by doing the job you were trained to do, and doing it well."
Dent is a lot more than a "waitress in the sky." Some of the passengers on Flight 1549 might even call her and the rest of the crew the closest thing they'll ever see to angels, at least on this side of eternity.
"We truly experienced a miracle," English wrote in her e-mail. "God answered all our prayers and gave us Sully and the crew to pull us through."
■ John Railey writes local editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at 727-7357 or at jrailey@wsjournal.com.
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