AP answers your news questions, from status of ‘Sully’s’ jet to what’s up with Somali pirates

Ask AP: Capt. ‘Sully’s’ jetliner, Somali pirates

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger officially returned to the skies this week, eight months after he gained fame by guiding his crippled jetliner into the Hudson River in New York City without the loss of a single life. But what about the damaged US Airways jet? Has that been returned to service?

Curiosity about the pilot’s aircraft inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions(at)ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

For a while now I have not heard anything about ships being hijacked off Somalia’s coast. Have there been so many that it’s not worth reporting, or has there been a large downturn? If so, is it because of the patrols, or the fact it is just ending winter in the Southern Hemisphere?

Jeff Gordon

Chattanooga, Tenn.

There was a lull in Somali pirate attacks from the end of June until September, when monsoons made it hard for pirate skiffs to operate on rough seas off the Horn of Africa. However, the weather is improving and authorities expect attacks to increase. Over the past two weeks, there has been a slight pickup in attacks with the latest involving a Spanish tuna trawler Friday in the Indian Ocean.

Piracy experts attribute the failure of those assaults to better vigilance aboard commercial ships as well as increased patrols and fast response times by international navies in the Gulf of Aden. The International Maritime Bureau, which monitors piracy, applauds the positive development but says navies are bracing for a “surge” in attacks in the gulf and off the east coast of Somalia.

Christopher C. Torchia

AP Chief of Bureau, Istanbul

Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger famously landed his US Airways jet on the Hudson River on Jan. 15 after it was disabled by birds flying into the engines. Whatever happened to the plane? Was it repaired and is it now flying again?

Daniel Lippman

Washington

After the emergency splashdown, the Airbus A320 slowly drifted south in the frigid Hudson. Only about half of the tail fin and rudder were above water when a Fire Department boat tugged the plane to the southern tip of Manhattan and docked it there. Both engines broke off, settling into muck and thick sediment 30 to 50 feet down.

After a recovery mission, the National Transportation Safety Board directed a teardown of the plane’s engines and found bird remains. The aircraft was moved to a Kearny, N.J. salvage yard. It is expected to remain there while the NTSB completes its investigation, which could take 12 to 18 months.

Once the NTSB concludes its investigation, the disassembled plane will be sold for salvage. It will not be repaired and will not fly again, according to Chartis, the company that insured the aircraft.

The 58-year-old Sullenberger officially returned to the skies Thursday to pilot a flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, N.C. — the same planned route as the ill-fated January flight.

Anabelle Garay

AP Writer, Dallas

An e-mail that’s circulating widely says that Medicare premiums will go up again this year and the next, while Social Security payments remain unchanged. It also says that Congress accepted the annual automatic pay raise while freezing Social Security and other pensions. Is this correct?

Joseph Benham

Kerrville, Texas

Social Security recipients are not expected to get a cost-of-living increase in 2010 because the government index on which the annual adjustments are based showed no inflation this year. Several bills have been introduced to increase benefits anyway, or at least provide an extra one-time payment.

Congress provided a one-time bonus payment of $250 to Social Security recipients in 2009 as part of an economic stimulus package. That was in addition to a 5.8 percent automatic cost-of-living increase Social Security beneficiaries got last January.

Congress voted in March to reject an automatic cost-of-living pay increase for its members in 2010. Senators and representatives got a 2.8 percent — $4,700 a year — cost-of-living boost in January, the same month Social Security benefits were increased.

By law, Medicare Part B premiums covering physician visits do not increase for the vast majority of seniors if there is no increase in Social Security payments. The House voted last week (9/24) to eliminate premium increases for those who would face them. The bill is now before the Senate.

Congress voted last December to let businesses stretch out paying billions of dollars in required contributions to their employee pension plans after many companies said they needed the cash to stay afloat because of the recession. It took no action regarding pension payments to retirees by defined benefit pension plans.

Stephen Ohlemacher

AP Writer, Washington, D.C.

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions(at)ap.org.