Quote of the Month:  “Just because you believe something firmly doesn’t make it true.”
William P. Young, Author of “The Shack”

CORPORATE IMAGE IS A FRAGILE THING

Before I begin, I want to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the safety of all those involved in the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15th.  Nothing can minimize the skill of that heroic pilot and the fact that the other crew members did what they needed to do to ensure the successful outcome of what New York Governor David Patterson termed the “Miracle on the Hudson.”  My husband and I had a personal connection. A family friend from New York who now lives in Charlotte e-mailed to tell us that his daughter, now an executive with Bank of America, had been on that plane. She was the first person out of the left emergency exit and spent some time in the cold Hudson River before being pulled into a life raft. After being warmed up in a hospital, she returned to Charlotte where she says she alternates between being euphorically happy and more than a little traumatized by the ordeal,  realizing how close they all came to death.

At First US Airways Was Looking Good

I fly a good deal.  Most of the media training workshops my husband and I conduct require it. For a number of years, I dreaded finding out that the cheapest flight was on US Airways.  They had one of the worst records among domestic carriers for delayed flights and lost luggage.  In 2008, however, I had flown US Airways a couple of times and was extremely impressed with the new planes, my on-time departures and arrivals with no maintenance issues, and luggage that arrived when I did.

When the pilot of Flight 1549 was able to make an almost flawless landing in the Hudson River and all of the 155 passengers and crew escaped with only one serious injury, I think the corporate image of US Airways experienced a favorable bump-up.  The picture in most people’s minds was probably the AP photo of the half-submerged airplane with “US Airways” showing plainly, while all those survivors stood on the wings waiting to be rescued.

Five Days Later, Serious Questions Were Raised

The crash happened on January 15th.  On January 19th, my husband and I attended dinner at the home of some friends.  Also in attendance was another couple who told us a fascinating - and scary — story.  It seems their son, who lives in Charlotte, had been on US Airways Flight 1549 on January 13th.  When he got home, he reported having been very frightened by loud noises that shook the plane just 20 minutes after it took off.  The captain had come on the intercom reporting that they most likely would have to return to LaGuardia to investigate what had happened.  But the flight did not turn around.  The captain reported that they had evidently experienced something that had caused the engine compressor to stall, but that they had fixed it.  The flight continued safely to Charlotte.

On January 20th, I saw a story on CNN.com corroborating this account.  The reporters had carefully verified that the airplane was the exact same Airbus A-320 with tail number N106US which was involved in the emergency landing two days later.  Suddenly huge questions arose.  Had engine damage been done by the compressor stall on Tuesday that meant the plane shouldn’t have been cleared to fly on Thursday?  Was it indeed the flock of birds that caused the problems on Thursday?  Could this all be one big coincidence?

US Airways’ Responses

Initially, on January 15th, I was quite impressed with the speed and content of the messages that came out of US Airways.  I was actually on their website trying to arrange a flight to Philadelphia for a February 10th workshop when the news of the crash was broadcast online at CNN.com.  I switched immediately to the US Airways home page and was pleased to see they had a press release confirming the known facts at the time and promising updates as soon as possible.  Within an hour and a half, I watched TV and saw Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways, deliver a statement at a press conference that gave the basic facts of the incident.  He indicated he was getting on the next plane for New York to personally address the situation.  I complimented them on doing all these things that we teach in our workshops.

However, in the January 20th story relating the previous incident, US Airways “would not confirm that the Flight 1549 that took off on January 13th was the same plane that splashed into the Hudson two days later.”  The CNN reporters had been able to confirm this through alternative reliable sources.  This did not make US Airways look good; in fact, it made it appear as if they were trying to hide something.

When people think an organization isn’t being completely forthright, they predictably get suspicious, concerned and/or angry.  In my opinion, whereas initially the passengers on the January 15th flight might have been willing to write off their lost luggage, cell phones, Blackberries, and laptops in exchange for their joy in being alive, they might now re-think things in light of the previous incident.  In the coming weeks, I would not be surprised to see some lawsuits filed against US Airways, particularly if the ongoing investigation shows that Thursday’s plane was damaged by the compressor failure.

I am certainly no aviation expert, and I don’t know if it is possible to ascertain such a thing.  I just know that questions have been raised, and it is a lot less favorable to US Airways that others brought the information to light about the previous incident. There was an entry in the maintenance log on January 13th that Flight 1549 “experienced a compressor stall.”  Perhaps it wasn’t thought to be serious at the time, as this evidently does happen from time to time and can be rectified by restarting the engine.  But undoubtedly at least a few people in airline maintenance/operations knew about this January 13th incident; it should have raised some red flags when the January 15th flight landed in the river.

We may never know if those maintenance/operations folks alerted airline management and, if so, whether those management people opted not to say anything, hoping that it would never come up. That’s not very realistic.  With 150 passengers terribly frightened by the compressor failure on January 13th, officials at US Airways should have known it would come out somehow when the crash occurred two days later.  Wouldn’t it have been a lot better for US Airways to have been the ones to announce that there had been an earlier incident?  If true, they could have said that a complete investigation of the compressors and engines had been conducted and that they were verified to be working properly before the plane was released for service.  As it stands now, there will probably always be a question in at least some people’s minds about whether or not it was entirely the fault of the flock of birds.  One thing I know
– I’m still debating whether to keep my US Airways flight to Philadelphia on February 7th.

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SPECIAL NOTE:  Welcome to the new subscribers who signed up for my e-zine after I spoke on Wednesday at the NC Business, Environmental and Safety Training (BEST) Conference at NC State. Good to have you with us!

Until next month…KEEP COOL! (I do feel like I should tell my former neighbors and colleagues in NY state and those of you in the Midwest and Northeast, try to STAY WARM! It’s been a tough winter.)

Judy Hoffman
www.judyhoffman.com
jchent@earthlink.net
(919) 550-8302

JCH Enterprises, 116 Nelson Lane, Clayton, NC 27527, USA