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A LADY AT THE HELM

As many of you will know over the weekend there was a tragic mid-air collision between a small plane and a helicopter in New York/New Jersey airspace. The incident occurred off Hoboken, NJ and both aircraft crashed into the Hudson River. Now NAUTICAL LOG knows very little about flying but does know about incident investigations. So it was that the lady who gave a clear and concise news conference today caught our attention. As it turns out we have written about her in previous Posts. She is Deborah A. P. Hersman who on July 28, 2009 was sworn in as Chairman of the NTSB for a two year term.

For those of you who have read the NAUTICAL LOG Posts about the MS "Cosco Busan" you may recall her lone dissenting opinion to the disgraceful NTSB report of that incident. In that dissent she showed a clear understanding of how ships are navigated, or should be, in narrow waters under Compulsory Pilotage.

Her presentation of the latest information about this air incident was well presented and easily understandable to one who has minimum knowledge about flying. It would appear that the NTSB is now well lead and we wish her every success in what is a very difficult and demanding position.

Good Watch

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