The recent miraculously smooth emergency landing in the Hudson River in New York City undoubtedly owed much to the fantastic airmanship skills of the pilot, which resulted in the extremely happy ending of no loss of life and hardly any injuries, and he is rightly hailed as a hero.

But colour me cynical if you will for suggesting that this could all be a very shrewd ploy and a superb initiation of a marketing campaign by US Airways to introduce a new approach and trend to the vacation concept of a fly/cruise? For now passengers can enjoy the benefits of such a holiday all without leaving the plane! Furthermore, the pilot (also ironically known as the captain) can now take on a double role - that of cruise director - with the added bonus of an enterprising innovative airline in-flight programme of riverboat gambling perhaps?

It was determined that the cause of the unprecedented aquaplane-type landing was a bird strike - geese in actual fact. This is not an uncommon scenario as many pilots have been known to hit the "Grey Goose" usually before flying, as this one appears on the bottle of a well-known brand of vodka.

Finally, may I offer some advice prior to when you next board an aircraft - make sure you are wearing your waterproof boots and have a ready supply of sea-sickness pills available. Chocks, or should that be anchors, aweigh!