As someone at ScienceOnline'09 mentions the Twittering of the Hudson River landing, I had just started reading Orac's explanation of why that happened. Apparently God hates pigeons, but doesn't mind people so much.
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Yeah, I hate it when people say "miracle". A really good miracle would've been the hand of god reaching down, catching the plane and placing it gently down at Newark Airport.
An even better miracle would've been not hitting the geese in the first place.
On the other hand, I am going to stop snickering and saying "Like, for instance, in a river?" when the attendants tell us what to do in the event of a water landing on short domestic flights...
Many people have rightly credited the pilot and crew, their training, practice (simulations)and teamwork. But when all that comes together under stressful conditions, and actually works, I am willing to call that a miracle.
The entire nation is being affected by the economic meltdown, of course, but I am a New Yorker and just by the sheer number of people who live here and the companies that are based here (or were, until they went bankrupt), everything is magnified.
So, when something extraordinary and positive occurs--as it did the other day on the Hudson River--I set aside belief, suspend disbelief, hope I'm not dreaming, and grab onto every atom (or, in this case "drop") of positive energy I can.
Whether this was purely the product of a highly trained crew and ideal weather, or something more spiritual, I'll take it. Some eight years after 9/11, a commercial plane flying low over Manhattan still triggers the "Fight or Flight" response. The realization that it is not a terrorist attack makes the relief all the more sweet.