What Message in the Miracle of Flight 1549?

Posting today will undoubtedly be on the light side as I awakened with a terrible backache that has done nothing but increase in intensity as the day has lengthened. It's something of a mystery as I recall doing nothing sufficient to bring this about.

I cannot sign off, however, without a comment or two about yesterday's US Air crash landing in the Hudson.

1. I know that people toss the "miracle" label about lavishly these days without actually putting a lot of thought or assigning meaning to it, but this event seems different. I saw news reporters visibly moved at what they were seeing. Considering all the factors that had to be exactly right for this aircraft to be landed without loss of life, it genuinely qualifies as a miracle.

2. It seems to me that more important than the "how" of this event was the "why." If it is indeed a true miracle, why did it occur? This takes us to the area of "signs" or, more specifically, what message was God sending to us?

Consider that the jet was brought down, not by terrorists, not through human action of any sort, but by the seemingly random flight of two flocks of geese. Natural causes. First possible message: As high flying as we think we are, we can be brought low fairly easily and rapidly. Is there a broader message here of things to come?

Consider that the craft flew roughly the same path as one of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center seven plus years ago, down the Hudson toward the Battery area of lower Manhattan. In fact, as it drifted in the river overnight, that's where yesterday's plane wound up. Message? I'm not sure. Maybe that just as the 9/11 event could have been more catastrophic but wasn't, a miracle too, God is signaling that He is with us at all times, in all kinds of emergencies.

At the same time as the crash landing there were headlines blaring that Bank of America stock was taking a hit because of the turmoil in all financials, and that the federal government is about to pass along another 15 to 20 billion dollars to prop up this biggest of banks. Is it not odd that many of the passengers on Flight 1549 were Bank of America employees flying back to North Carolina for the evening? Is not the name itself, Bank of America, symbolic of our nation's economic system?

The message? Again, I'm not sure, but I would hazard a guess that perhaps it is a reminder that no matter how "technical" our rescue efforts become, the natural course of our economic is on a downward trajectory. But we will survive, providing we trust in God and believe in one another, and love one another as brothers and sisters of the family of man.

I'd like to think so. I'm not a prophet but I do try to stay aware of the signs of the times and pray for discernment. You are free to see in yesterday's event what you wish to see.

For an interesting report on the prayers of the passengers, check out this:

Horrified passengers said their prayers and braced for impact as the US Airways flight they were on plummeted from the sky into the icy Hudson River Thursday afternoon.

"About three or four minutes into the flight the left engine just blew, fire and flames came out of it and it just started smelling a lot like gasoline. A couple minutes after that the pilots said we had to brace for a hard impact, and that's when everyone started saying prayers," a passenger who was sitting in seat 22A told WCBS-TV.

Authorities say more than 150 people were rescued, including Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn.

"They told us to brace for impact and I said about five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys, then we hit the water," Kolodjay said. "The flight attendants herded passengers onto inflatable rafts at the exit doors. Other passengers stood on a wing, as boats all around picked them up."

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UPDATE -- Greg Pollowitz speculates on whether an environmentally-friendly "earmark" to avoid killing Canadian geese in NYC helped bring down the US Airways plane. Given that no one died, I suppose the report is somewhat humorous. But it won't be the next time a plane is killed by flying geese.

There's nothing in the New York Times archives between the 2004 slaughter and the crash yesterday, but I think an investigation into what was or wasn't done over the years to control the geese is in order. If environmental concerns overrode passenger safety then that's something that needs to be debated in light of yesterday's miracle.

You have to read the whole thing.