Jeffrey B. Skiles

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Jeffrey Skiles
Jeffrey Skiles, copilot of US Airways Flight 1549, at inauguration
Jeffrey Skiles, copilot of US Airways Flight 1549, at inauguration
Born 1961 (age 62–63)
Nationality USA
Other names Jeffrey B. Skiles
Occupation Airline pilot
Known for copilot of US Airways Flight 1549

Jeffrey B. Skiles is an airliner pilot for US Airways.[1] On January 15, 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 their plane on the Hudson River.[2] Sullenberger was widely 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.[3] 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 just fifteen years old.[1] He first worked on cargo planes, and 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.[4] 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."[4]

In his book Gawande reminded readers that, during an emergency, there are so many tasks to complete to complete, that the co-pilot is working at least as hard as the pilot.[5] Sullenberger had taken on the task of finding a safe place to land, and actually landing, leaving his experienced copilot Skiles the task of following the checklist to try to restart the jet engines. He noted that Skiles was able to complete the checklist in the less than three minute period between the bird-strike, and the landing, noting this was "something investigators later testified to be "very remarkable" in the time frame he had--and something they found difficult to replicate in simulation."

PBS interviewer Charlie Rose interviewed Skiles on February 10, 2009.[6] During that interview Skiles predicted that Sullenberger would receive on-going attention, but that his fifteen minutes of fame would end when he left Rose's studio. However, he too occasionally was called on to offer advice on crisis management.[7]

After a formal review of their performance both Sullenberger and Skiles had their flight status restored, but Sullenberger retired in 2010.[8] Sullenberger and Skiles flew together, on March 3, 2010, on a recreation of their original flight plan, on Sullenberger's last flight as for US Airways. It was their second flight together, as the pair had never worked together before the famous flight.[9]

References

  1. 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." 
  2. Catherine Elsworth (2009-01-17). "New York plane crash: co-pilot tells captain 'You pulled it off!'". The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/4275092/New-York-plane-crash-co-pilot-tells-captain-You-pulled-it-off.html. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "Overheard minutes after the plane was brought down safely in New York on Thursday, Mr Skiles said: 'You know, Sully - no-one's ever had a successful ditch before. You pulled it off.'" 
  3. 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." 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "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. 
  5. Atul Gawande (2010). The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Henry Holt and Company. pp. 178-180. ISBN 9781429953382. https://books.google.ca/books?id=x3IcNujwHxcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Jeffrey+B.+Skiles%22+OR+%22Jeffrey+Skiles%22+pilot&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMzo-fyNHoAhWmm-AKHTfyAYUQ6AEI8QEwGA#v=onepage&q=skiles&f=false. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "The plane had only three and a half minutes of glide in it. In that time, Skiles needed to make sure he'd done everything possible to relight the engines while also preparing the aircraft for ditching if it wasn't feasible. But the steps required just to restart on engine typically take more time that that." 
  6. Charlie Rose (2009-02-10). "Jeffrey Skiles". Charlie Rose show. https://charlierose.com/videos/14176. Retrieved 2020-04-05. 
  7. "'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." 
  8. Scott Mayerowitz (2010-03-03). "Sully Retires: No More Miracles on the Hudson: The US Airways pilot is retiring after 30 years of flying.". ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/SullySullenberger/sully-retires-miracles-hudson-us-airways-pilot/story?id=9997647. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "In October, just before the release of his book, Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, who was with him for the Hudson crash flight, took to the skies again together. The pair flew from Charlotte, N.C., to New York in the morning and then returned together in a trip called their 'reunion flight.'" 
  9. "Atul Gawande at the 2009 New Yorker Festival". The New Yorker magazine. 2009-10-25. https://www.newyorker.com/video/watch/atul-gawande. Retrieved 2020-04-05. "One thing to think about that stuck in my mind was that Sullenberger, who was captain, and Jeffrey Skiles, who was the co-pilot, the first officer, had never flown together before they got on that plane that day."