With the “Miracle on the Hudson” still relatively fresh in the audience’s mind, the MTD meeting on Feb. 27 featured a particularly uplifting moment as NY Waterway’s founder and one of its ferry captains were honored by the executive board.National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Deborah Hersman also joined in commending the SIU-contracted company, whose personnel helped save the passengers and flight crew from the downed U.S. Airways jet that crashed into the Hudson River in January (see related coverage, page 6).
MTD and SIU President Michael Sacco presented a ship’s wheel (dedicated to all of the captains and deckhands at the company) to NY Waterway founder Arthur Imperatore and to Captain Vincent Lombardi. The inscription reads, “With admiration and thanks for your outstanding actions which were an enormous part of the Miracle on the Hudson. Your lifesaving efforts helped lift the spirits of the entire nation.”
The rescue of all 155 personnel from the downed aircraft (including 143 saved by SIU-crewed ferries) is “a great tribute to the union members who saved those people,” Sacco stated. “Virtually every person who rescued the passengers and crew from U.S. Airways Flight 1549 was a union member – and most of them belong to MTD unions.”
Lombardi was the captain of the first vessel that arrived at the rescue scene. Recalling that moment, he said he urged everyone on board the Thomas Jefferson to maintain their composure, because they didn’t know what they were about to see.
He also thanked the MTD and SIU for their support and for the recognition on behalf of all the crews.
Imperatore emphasized the commitment of NY Waterway employees, including their focus on safety training – some of which takes place at the SIU-affiliated Paul Hall Center, located in Piney Point, Md. He also saluted the productive working relationship his company shares with the union, citing “the professionalism that we absorbed and we understood from our association.”
“I’m proud of our people,” added Imperatore, 83, who founded the company in 1986. “They are highly trained and very, very committed to the work we do.”
Hersman discussed various key aspects of shipboard safety and shared some of the NTSB’s most significant findings. She noted that the agency investigates accidents in all modes of transportation, determines probable cause and makes recommendations.
She pointed to fatigue as “one of the most insidious” of all transportation issues and said that “long-duty days are associated with fatigue and degraded performance.”
Concerning the NY Waterway rescue, she concluded, “When we see accidents and we go to accident scenes, they bring out the best and the worst of equipment, of training, of procedures. But I think that we can all say, on the river that day, we saw the best of humanity. Those who were on that water that day showed us what many of us already know – especially those who are involved in the transportation industry. We are our brothers’ keepers and we have to take care of each other, and those crews did that that day. My hat’s off to you all.”
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