News
As Plane Went Down, NY Waterway Went To The Rescue
By John Burton
NEW YORK - While its main focus is delivering sleepy commuters to and from their work and homes, last Friday much of the NY Waterway ferry fleet joined in the rescue of many of the U.S. Airway jet flight that landed in the icy cold Hudson River.
According to Pat Smith, a spokesman for NY Waterway, crewmembers, 14 of the company's fleet responded to the flight's emergency landing Friday afternoon and rescued 142 of the plane's 155 passengers.
"It comes down to training and reflexes," Smith said this week about the quick response by the ferry employees in responding to the downed airliner.
At about 3:30 p.m., NY Waterway Captain Vince Lombardi was departing the 39th Street Terminal in Manhattan, intended for the Port Imperial Terminal, Weehawken, with his 20-plus passengers. Lombardi turned the ferry around to face northwest, "just as the plane was coming to rest right in front of him," Smith said.
Lombardi and his ferry, "were at the airplane in under three minutes," Smith said.
The ship's deckhands dispatched a new piece of equipment, called Jason's cradle, which is a four-foot wide segmented ladder that rolls down to the waterline. That and the ferry's flat bottom, which allows the ship to sit lower in the water making it easier to pull people from the water, permitted the crew to pull 56 of the downed Airbus 320 passengers out of the frigid water.
Ferry passengers were throwing life jackets to those in the cold river and many gave the rescued their coats or were hugging them for warmth, Smith said.
Two other captains, Vincent Lucante and Rick Starr, were at the company's work dock in Weehawken when they took it upon themselves to, "just run to a ferry" and sailed it to the plane and saved another 22 people from the river, including an 18-month infant, Smith said.
"There were other boats making similar rescues," Smith said.
Training for emergency contingencies are standard for the company's crews, Smith explained. "Our crews are drilled on this constantly," he said.
Over the last 22 years the company has operated, crewmembers have been responsible for approximately 100 rescues of those in the water. Usually it is kayakers, those who have fallen off other watercrafts and those who have jumped or fallen from seawalls or promenades, Smith said.
The ferries, with the flat bottoms, are actually particularly suited for these rescues. "If you fall in the water the most likely boat you're going to encounter is a Waterway Ferry," Smith said. "That's a statistical likelihood."
According to the New York City chief medical officer for Emergency Medical Services, the water temperature at the time was at the time 35 degrees Fahrenheit, Smith said. At that temperature a human body would experience "significant hypothermia" as soon as two-three minutes in the water.
"If that plane had come down two miles to the north or if those ferries had not responded as quickly as they did," Smith said, "there is a strong likelihood this would have had a more tragic outcome."
All 155 of the plane passengers were rescued from the downed flight.
