Polish captain 'relieved' at safe landing
Source: Agencies |
November 3, 2011, Thursday
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THE Polish pilot hailed as a hero for his smooth emergency landing of a Boeing airliner en route from New Jersey, United States, remained modest yesterday in his first public appearance, saying he felt "huge relief" once his passengers evacuated the plane, but wondered whether he could have done better.
Captain Tadeusz Wrona landed the plane on its belly at Warsaw international airport, gaining instant hero status in Poland. "When I stopped on the runway, I still was not sure that everyone was safe because smoke and some burning from friction appeared on the ground," Wrona told reporters at a news conference. "I felt huge relief when the head flight attendant reported that the plane was empty."
Passengers on board the plane described Tuesday's landing as so smooth they thought they had landed on wheels. However, sparks, smoke and small fires under the plane erupted on landing, and emergency workers immediately doused it with water.
One reporter asked him about the exceptional landing. Wrona joked that he heard a passenger complain from the back about feeling a bump. That elicited chuckles from the reporters.
Several Facebook pages sprang up immediately on Tuesday to express admiration for Wrona and his crew, with some calling him a "superhero." "Fly like an eagle and land like a crow," runs one phrase coined by fans on Facebook, a play on the word "wrona," which in Polish means crow.
The landing of the plane brought huge relief to a nation that is still heavily focused on the aviation disaster in Smolensk, Russia, in April 2010, where President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others died when their plane crashed in heavy fog.
A government report put much of the blame for that accident on poor pilot training and faulty security procedures within the Polish air force.
In contrast, the Polish crew's landing of the faulty plane has been hailed as masterful. President Bronislaw Komorowski - Kaczynski's successor - praised the crew and emergency workers on the ground for their successful operation and said he plans to bestow state decorations on them.
Captain Tadeusz Wrona landed the plane on its belly at Warsaw international airport, gaining instant hero status in Poland. "When I stopped on the runway, I still was not sure that everyone was safe because smoke and some burning from friction appeared on the ground," Wrona told reporters at a news conference. "I felt huge relief when the head flight attendant reported that the plane was empty."
Passengers on board the plane described Tuesday's landing as so smooth they thought they had landed on wheels. However, sparks, smoke and small fires under the plane erupted on landing, and emergency workers immediately doused it with water.
One reporter asked him about the exceptional landing. Wrona joked that he heard a passenger complain from the back about feeling a bump. That elicited chuckles from the reporters.
Several Facebook pages sprang up immediately on Tuesday to express admiration for Wrona and his crew, with some calling him a "superhero." "Fly like an eagle and land like a crow," runs one phrase coined by fans on Facebook, a play on the word "wrona," which in Polish means crow.
The landing of the plane brought huge relief to a nation that is still heavily focused on the aviation disaster in Smolensk, Russia, in April 2010, where President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others died when their plane crashed in heavy fog.
A government report put much of the blame for that accident on poor pilot training and faulty security procedures within the Polish air force.
In contrast, the Polish crew's landing of the faulty plane has been hailed as masterful. President Bronislaw Komorowski - Kaczynski's successor - praised the crew and emergency workers on the ground for their successful operation and said he plans to bestow state decorations on them.
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