杏吧原创

ONE year ago, a luckless flock of birds snuffed out both engines on a packed Airbus A320 jet, forcing it to ditch in New York鈥檚 Hudson river. All on board survived, making a chatshow-circuit hero of pilot .

This book suggests, however, that Sullenberger鈥檚 glide to the water was aided considerably by the unseen hand of Bernard Ziegler, engineer of the A320鈥檚 . The system intervenes to prevent pilots flying too slowly to maintain lift or at angles that risk a stall. Ziegler鈥檚 software ensured the plane behaved safely, 鈥渃radling鈥� it onto the water, argues.

It鈥檚 an interesting notion in an otherwise fascinating book, but it鈥檚 unconvincing. If a motorist swerves to avoid a wayward pedestrian, do you congratulate the author of the power-steering software? I think not.