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  Successful emergency landing a relief for US Airways
     (By Dawn Gilbertson, The Arizona Republic, January 16, 2009)

US Airways likely escaped major legal, financial and image repercussions when what looked to be a dire situation, with a jetliner landing in New York’s Hudson River, turned into a dramatic rescue, with the 155 passengers and crew quickly plucked from the water.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a host of others instantly hailed the pilot, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, as a hero for making the successful water landing after striking a flock of birds on Thursday. Sullenberger’s picture and name were flashed across televisions and on the Internet.

"When you have the mayor of New York saying it was a miracle landing, I would say that’s a pretty good endorsement of your employees’ capabilities," said Steve Roman, a partner in Phoenix-based FirstStrategic Communications and Public Affairs.

US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker, who left for New York after the crash, and other executives of the Tempe, Ariz.-based airline were unavailable to discuss the accident Thursday.

But although there were no fatalities, US Airways isn’t out of the legal woods from the accident, experts say.

Alisa Brodkowitz, a personal-injury lawyer in Seattle whose firm handles airline-accident victims, said LaGuardia Airport, where Flight 1549 took off from, is likely to be the biggest target if it is determined birds were at fault. The airport likely would draw US Airways into the case, suggesting they had a role or were at fault, she said.

"There will always be scrutiny on the airline," she said. "That scrutiny may be in the form of ’Did you know about these birds? Was there a pilot who took off before you who could have told you about them? Had they encountered them before?’ "

Passengers terrified by the water landing are likely to seek compensation, Brodkowitz said.

"I think that, in the aftermath, you’re going to see a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder," she said.

Brodkowitz sees some similarities with the Continental Airlines accident in Denver before Christmas, where a plane veered off the runway during takeoff and caught fire. Everyone survived. The legal risk is potentially bigger in that case, she said, because there are questions about whether the plane should have taken off in high winds.

Houston-based Continental has been criticized for handing out spending money and drink coupons after the crash, with some saying the airline was trying to buy off the passengers. A Continental representative said the airline was taking care of customers, not trying to head off legal problems.

It is too early to judge US Airways’ handling of the Hudson River crisis. But it took the usual industry steps in the immediate aftermath.

It set up a toll-free telephone number for passengers’ families, put alerts front and center on USAirways.com, engaged on-call public-relations experts and airport officials, and issued occasional updates to the media and employees. There were a couple of negative comments from employees on Internet message boards about a perceived delay in getting out the first memo.

In a brief news conference outside the airline’s headquarters, Parker said the airline had activated its team of specially trained employee volunteers to help those affected.

The true test will be how the airline takes care of the passengers and crew members and their families, said Bruce Blythe, chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Crisis Management International, which counsels airlines and other companies.

"If you blow it, then what happens is you have outrage," Blythe said. "Outrage is one thing that’s going to make your crisis last longer."

Thursday’s accident was the first major crisis-management test faced by the new US Airways since the America West/US Airways merger more than three years ago. The former US Airways had several fatal crashes over the years, but America West, where Parker and other top executives had worked, had none.

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