Question:

For the Birds (Revisited)

The way that a pilot named Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger saved all 155 passengers onboard his disabled commercial jetliner was the feel-good story of 2009. However, some questions arose as to whether all the plaudits and congratulations were merited.

Bob Machol at the Federal Aviation Administration decided that the FAA needed a dispassionate examination of the situation so that appropriate lessons might be learned and potential repeat events might be prevented. Fortunately, Bob found an outstanding consulting firm to conduct a quick report on the issue. You, as a new team from the prestigious consulting group, have been asked to put together a 15-20-minute report on the issue for the FAA Board of Directors.

You have found an animated recreation of the landing of the plane in the Hudson (link provided at the end):

2. "Is this an example of a system failure or a system success?" Why or why not?
4. What is "the system"?
6. How did the "problem" and related "system(s)" evolve from the time the aircraft departed the runway until the crew and passengers were safe and the post-event forensics were completed?
8. Did the definition of the system boundaries change dynamically?
10. Who are the stakeholders?
12. Who is (are) the decision maker(s)?
14. In "designing" this system (however it was designed), what were the important design considerations?
16. What are the metrics?
18. How were alternatives generated and evaluatedduring the design of the "system" and during the resolution of "the problem"?

Locally, however, in Machol's neighborhood, the "Miracle on the Hudson" helped launch some bad feelings in the Forest Lakes neighborhood.

Since the incident and following a series of Congressional hearings and the release of previously confidential FAA data on bird strikes, thousands of geese across the country have been rounded up and slaughtered as part of the airline industry's efforts to make flying safer.

But the mass killing has outraged bird lovers and ruffled feathers at Forest Lakes where 90 Canada Geese were rounded up and killed in early July. Some Forest Lakes residents have come forward to say that despite their neighborhood's proximity to the airport, Forest Lakes' geese actually pose little risk to planes.

And it was bothering Wither Brown, the Head of the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Airport Commission (CARAC), who was having a bad couple of weeks. The Commission's decision to eliminate geese in the ponds was seeing considerable press, and most of it was negative or controversial.

"It's hypocrisy, and it's all about money," says resident Arthur Epp, who lives in a house overlooking a lake where the geese once swam and raised their young.

While federal officials say the geese killing will bolster the safety of the flying public, Epp says there's plenty of data to back up the claim that the airline industry is mostly concerned with making people think they're safer.

Brown commiserated with Machol, his neighbor, about the situation. "Now the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors wants a report that justified the decision to remove the geese." Machol volunteered that he had found your consulting firm, which was preparing a quick report on the Hudson River Landing issuesome of the analysis on the geese might be useful for the Board of Supervisors. Your team, therefore, was approached by CARAC to conduct an additional 15-20-minute report on the issue for the Board of Supervisors.

Who is right?

Animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imDFSnklB0k

[YouTube: Hudson River Plane Landing Automation]

Articles:

http://www.readthehook.com/66820/unfriendly-skies-forest-lakes-miracle-hudson-and-canada-geese

http://www.readthehook.com/73034/miracle-flight-1549-hits-home

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/97814199.html

FAA Database: http://wildlife-mitigation.tc.faa.gov/wildlife/default.aspx"