This afternoon’s emergency U.S. Airways crash into New York’s Hudson river, was many things—a fluke of nature; a testament to aviation prowess and a positive case study in impeccable crisis planning.
The uncanny skill of the flight crew and attendants to bring the airliner safely to rest, keep the passengers calm and evacuate everyone on board within 90 seconds, while worthy of being deemed a miracle, demonstrated that being prepared in advance (planning for the worst in order to avoid same) through training, protocol, procedures and practice truly makes a difference.
Moreover, from a communications standpoint, US Airways chairman and CEO Doug Parker also played the crisis by the book; making himself immediately available to provide information to the public while promising to work with the NTSB to fully investigate.
Also of note from a media standpoint, once again a lay person eyewitness was among the first to record images of the crash, taken via iPhone and transmitted via Twitter.
An amazing day all around.