US Air 1549 had engine failure problems two days before downed flight

[nichomachus]

This is kind of disturbing

Passengers reported problems on same flight two days earlier

(CNN) -- Two days before US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River, passengers on the same route and same aircraft say they heard a series of loud bangs and the flight crew told them they could have to make an emergency landing, CNN has learned.

Steve Jeffrey of Charlotte, North Carolina, told CNN he was flying in first class Tuesday when, about 20 minutes into the flight, "it sounded like the wing was just snapping off."

"The red lights started going on. A little pandemonium was going on," Jeffrey recalled.

He said the incident occurred over Newark, New Jersey, soon after the plane -- also flying as Flight 1549 -- had taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York.

"It seemed so loud, like luggage was hitting the side but times a thousand. It startled everyone on the plane," Jeffrey said. "We started looking at each other. The stewardesses started running around. They made an announcement that 'everyone heard the noise, we're going to turn around and head back to LaGuardia and check out what happened.'

He added, "About 10 minutes later when we never made the turn, we kept going, that's when the pilot came on and explained -- I wish I could remember the words -- I remember him using air, compression and lock -- I'm not sure the right order, but he made it sound like the air didn't get to the engine and it stalled the engine out, which he said doesn't happen all the time but it's not abnormal."

Expert Aviation Consulting, an Indianapolis, Indiana, private consulting firm that includes commercial airline pilots on its staff, said the plane that landed in the Hudson was the same one as Flight 1549 from LaGuardia two days earlier.

"EAC confirms that US Airways ship number N106US flew on January 13, 2009, and January 15, 2009, with the same flight number of AWE 1549 from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina," Expert Aviation said in a statement to CNN.

No wonder they don't want the crew talking to the media.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. I think it's standard procedure to not do interviews until released from the investigation

and it's really possible the crew that was on Sully's flight was not the same crew on the previous flight.
Crews change.


That said, US Airways does have some explaining to do.

[nichomachus]

2. Agreed -- and maybe it's not the same crew

but they don't want the media asking questions about whether this crew was told of that earlier occurrence.

[L0oniX]

3. Even so ...that would have been just one engine.