Jeffrey B. Skiles
Jeffrey B. Skiles is an airliner pilot for US Airways.[1] On January 23, 2009, he was the co-pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, when the plane lost all its engines, and he helped captain Chesley Sullenberger land the plane on the Hudson River. Sullenberger was highly celebrated for landing the plane with no loss of life.
Although Skiles was flying as a co-pilot on flight 1549, this was due to a staff reductions at US Airways.[2] He had flown as a Captain, prior to the staff reductions, and had 80 percent as many flight hours as Sullenberger.
Both Skiles parents are pilots, and he became a pilot, himself, when he was fifteen years old.[1] He first worked on cargo planes, and had then worked for Midway Airlines, but, at the time of the emergency landing, he had been with US Airways for 26 years. Skiles had survived an earlier emergency landing, early in his flight career, when he was a flight engineer.
Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto, asserted that the successful emergency landing relied on the cooperation of Sullenberger and Skiles.[3] Gawande's central premise is that even really experienced people, in any field, encounter rare events, and that successfully coping with the rare event requires first the careful anticipation of future emergencies, and second, preparing a well thought out list of steps to follow, in advance.
- " Capt. Sullenberger could be certain that Skiles was doing everything possible to re-start the engines, while he focused all of his attention and skill upon the problem of finding a place to land. The pilot and crew’s adherence to strict protocols contained in the checklist allowed them to function in a complex and dire situation."[3]
PBS interviewer Charlie Rose interviewed Skiles on February 10, 2009.[4] During that interview he predicted that Sullenberger would receive on-going attention, but that his fifteen minutes of fame when he left Rose's studio. However, he too occasionally was called on to offer advice on crisis management.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Scott Bauer (2009-01-15). "Co-pilot in Hudson plane crash from Wisconsin". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Oregon). http://archive.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/37692079.html/. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "His father, James J. Skiles of nearby Verona, said his son's been flying since he was 15 years old. He's worked almost 26 years for US Airways and prior to that worked for Midstate Airlines and also flew cargo planes, Barbara Skiles said."
- ↑ Subcommittee on Aviation (2009-02-24). "US Airways Flight 1549 Accident Hearing (111-10)". Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (Washington DC): p. 10. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg47866/pdf/CHRG-111hhrg47866.pdf. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "I think the word of the day today is ″experience,″ obviously, looking at us. I myself have 20,000 flying hours. I have been a captain at US Airways in the past, but due to cutbacks, I am flying as a first officer right now. And I have been flying for 32 years myself."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Getting things right". p. 2. https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/bitstream/handle/10342/4360/Coonin%20and%20Levine%20Getting%20Things%20Right.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- ↑ Charlie Rose (2009-02-10). "Jeffrey Skiles". Charlie Rose show. https://charlierose.com/videos/14176. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- ↑ "'Miracle on the Hudson' Co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles Addresses Lytx® User Group Conference: The Safe Landing of US Airways Flight 1549 was the Result of an Intense Focus on Training the Human in the Cockpit, Not a Miracle". Lytx User Group (San Diego). 2016-02-24. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/miracle-on-the-hudson-co-pilot-jeffrey-skiles-addresses-lytx-user-group-conference-300225043.html. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "'Airlines have spent decades improving the safety of their aircraft, using every technology available, but a major piece of the safety equation is missing if you don't focus on the human,' Skiles said in an interview prior to his address."
