Any Good Ideas?

Any Good Ideas ~ Captain Sullenberger's

Sitting on the runway at LaGuardia Airport today I know that as the plane taxis for takeoff we will just rise above the water and make our way into the air. It is always a moment that takes my breath away no matter how much I travel. Since January 15, 2009 when Captain Sullenberger (“Sulley”) piloted the ‘Miracle on the Hudson River’ this adventure has been even more meaningful. 

Who can forget the sight of that USA Air flight ditching on the Hudson River after it was disabled by a flock of Canadian Geese just after takeoff. Three minutes into the flight Sulley made the decision to land the plane in the Hudson when his engines failed and there was no way he could make it back to LaGuardia or Teterboro Airport on the New Jersey side of the Hudson.

Once the black box of the six minute flight was released you could hear the entire exchange of what seemed to be a very clam conversation. In an interview later, Sulley said he was not that calm but had the responsibility to appear calm for his passengers. What was most surprising on the tapes was a point just 300 feet above the water. Sulley asks his crew, “any good ideas”?  When asked later why he posed that question he stated that he always knew that regardless of how much experience you have, no matter how much you think you know, those around you may have a really great idea that you need to listen to. He always told himself that he would not have wanted to land the plane badly and then have someone say, ‘gee if we had just tried this’….

So always remember that you may have a great deal of experience but there is always an opportunity to learn from others and use your team for collaborative efforts to broaden solutions. If “Sulley” can ask at a moment 300 feet above the freezing waters of the Hudson, then we surely can ask in our pressured time frames too!  Just remember that photo of the 155 passengers safely standing on the wings on the US Air plane on the Hudson. What a moment in time!