Thank God for drills; they helped snatch rescue from tragedy. Flight crews made the controlled descent, rescue crews raced to get terrified passengers out of paralyzingly icy waters, and mariners in ferries and other boats assisted as needed. A team.
When I took this foto in Elizabeth this morning, my thermometer read 19 degrees, and my fingers numbed quickly in the cold and wind. Imagine the passengers and their terror followed immediately by the need to move hastily to the nearest exit, sloshing in frigid water. Not even the best swimmer could make it to the nearest bank of the Hudson.
The call today was no drill.
Mere minutes are critical;
seconds matter.
Has anyone made of list of responding vessels including those on Qban’s foto from Flickr below? Qban shot this from Jersey City waterfront.
from Qban’s Flickr photostream
Drills . . . overcome panic and paralysis. Kudos to the responders. Here’s a link to reader-provided fotos to the NY Times.
All fotos except Qban’s by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
5 comments
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January 15, 2009 at 7:36 pm
leslie
Thought of you immediately when I saw this on the news.
Lots of heroes today.
January 16, 2009 at 1:39 am
bowsprite
Plane salvage: Cranes Columbia and Delaware Bay on the scene with tugs Thomas Witte and Mary Alice. High tide was about midnight; low tide will be at 0624 at Weehawken. Impressive response by the crew of plane, harbor boats & passengers. Thank Neptune/Sedna/KuanYin/Deity of your Choice that lives were spared, save some birds and stunned fish.
January 16, 2009 at 9:43 am
Michael
Tremendous work by so many people on the boats. If any of those passengers had to swim even for a minute it could have become tragic.
January 16, 2009 at 9:58 am
Mage Bailey
A most amazing response. Thanks for the links and commentary. I was pleased to see the NYFD boats on scene.
January 16, 2009 at 10:06 pm
bowsprite
update friday: noticed Weeks bringing in a crane to the scene around 1440H. Could not see the names of the equipment.