According to their calculations, there’s a 1-in-20 chance that a meteor would hit one flight over the past 20 years. Which isn’t too crazy. But still, the odds of something so small falling from the sky and striking something else that’s so small and moving so fast are close to nil, so while this is an interesting theory, the chances are good that it was just a malfunction of the airspeed indicators. [NY Times and Discover]

The errant text message also sent dozens of passengers to the hospital and closed down one of the busier sections of the Green Line at the Government Centre and Park Street stops. The stops have since reopened, and criminal charges are all but set to be filed against the operator, Aiden Quinn, 24, of Attleboro, Mass. Quinn actually admitted to first responders that he was texting his girlfriend at the time of the crash because she wouldn’t answer his initial call (which he also made, presumably, while driving a packed subway train).

In related news, Verizon is on board with a general ban on texting while driving, and Boston just instituted one of those “you mean it wasn’t in place already?!” bans on mobile phones for all T operators. The ban does not apply to popcorn. [AP, NYT, Channel 5 Boston]

Last week I received a furniture order around 11pm. Yeah, it was late—but the drivers had good reason. Earlier that day they fell victim to the infamous Gregson Street RR bridge in Durham NC.

Fortunately, my buffet table and bed frames emerged from the incident unscathed—but I felt for the two dudes driving the truck. I get a lot of furniture from Ecko International and these guys have always been great with deliveries. Sure there are clearance signs, but this is definitely not the first time someone has made this mistake. In fact, the bridge is so notorious for chewing up trucks that it has its own YouTube channel packed with carnage. [Yovo's Bridgecam]

The captain of Cactus 1549—the codename for flight 1549—is cooler than Batman, Iron Man, and frikkin Admiral Adama all rolled into one. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, 57, is a former US Air Force fighter pilot who left the military in 1980. Couple that with the fact that he is also a safety expert and a glider pilot, and you will understand why his nerves are made of steel.

Jump to minute 1:26, when the birds hit the fans and all the action starts. Then, keep listening until he decides to go down onto the Hudson river rather than going to Teterboro airport’s runway one, in New Jersey:

L116: Cactus 1549 turn right two eight zero. You can land on runway one at Teterboro.
AWE1549: We can’t do it.
L116: OK, which runway would like at Teterboro.
AWE1549: We’re gonna be in the Hudson.

(understandable silence from La Guardia)

L116: I’m sorry, say again Cactus.

Then heard as the other people repeats his last transmission. Seriously, I want to be this guy when I grow up. [Thanks Kat]

It’s rare to catch a commercial plane crashing on video, but Japanese TV NHK has aired yesterday’s spectacular crash of the FedEx aeroplane in Narita Airport. Sadly, the two dead pilots didn’t have ejection seats.

As you can see in the video, the Su-24 either had bad problems with its flaps—I wouldn’t be surprised, since these Soviet planes are really old, even while they were best of class back in the 70s—or the pilot was drunk.

Either way, the ejection seats saved the day in extremis. [FlightGlobal]

The aeroplane was a Q400 Bombardier aircraft that was flying from Newark to Buffalo Niagra. It crashed into a suburban home at around 10pm, just ten miles from the airport in Buffalo. The reason for the crash is not yet known.

Update: A reader tipped us off that the Q400 had been previously banned in Scandinavia, after two crashes involving the plane – one in Lithuania and one in Denmark. In those cases, the landing gear had allegedly corroded. [AP]

There’s still no reason why the Boeing 737-500 went off the runway at takeoff. Fortunately, everyone survived, although two of the thirty-eight people who suffered injuries are in critical condition.

For some reason, these images send a chill down my spine. Perhaps it is knowing that those wings are full of highly-flammable aeroplane fuel, and the whole thing could have been hell. I always find it amazing how fragile airplanes are. [Denver Post via Star Telegram]