K3 Resources has released a compelling
animation of the January 15 US Airways Flight 1549
ditching in the Hudson River, including views of bird flocks caught on radar at the time the Airbus A320’s engines flamed out. The animation pulls together all the information available from the NTSB public docket to create a 3-D reconstruction of the accident as seen from inside the cockpit and from a view outside the airplane, including ATC audio and the cockpit transcript. Kas Osterbuhr, K3’s 3-D visualization expert, created the animation as a teaching tool and to illustrate K3’s data-visualization capabilities. “All my work in the past involves litigation,” he explained, “and I can’t share that stuff.” With the data from the US Airways ditching now public, he added, “I have something I can share without being under the veil of litigation.” One element missing from the animation is the cockpit audio, which the NTSB won’t release. Osterbuhr is hoping that US Airways will provide the audio so he can incorporate it into the animation. “You can learn so much from the noises, and hearing the pilot and copilot communicate,” he said.