Young captain reacts like 'seasoned pro'

northjersey.com ^ | ASHLEY KINDERGAN

[Coleus]

 Video: NYPD Divers Talk About Rescue

First, Brittany Catanzaro piloted a commuter ferry through a rescue mission that fished 24 people out of the frigid Hudson River after a plane landed in the water.   Then, she appeared on Larry King Live and did an interview with CNN's Campbell Brown. Throughout, she attended to a phone that wouldn't stop ringing.    Let's just say Thursday was a busy day for Catanzaro, a 20-year-old Fairview resident and NY Waterway ferry captain. Catanzaro, the authority's first female captain, was steering the second boat that reached a US Airways flight that had been forced down after a collision with geese took out both engines.

"My phone was going crazy," Catanzaro said of the night before. "By the time I got home, I just crashed."  By 7 a.m. Friday, the adventure was   mostly over. Seagulls swooped low and harmless over the water at sunrise, and Catanzaro was back on the beat, navigating between the Hoboken terminal and Pier 11 near Wall Street.  "It still hasn't really sunk in, what happened," she said.  Less than two hours into her shift Thursday, Catanzaro looked over her shoulder and saw a jet floating in the water as she headed in the opposite direction, toward Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken from New York's Pier 79. Immediately, she said, she turned around and steered toward the plane.

"It looked like a little kid was playing in the bathtub, and just set the plane down in the water," Catanzaro said. "The thought in my head was, the plane's going down quickly. We have to get over there."  In many ways, the captain is a typical 20-year-old. She sports a nearly invisible blue stud in her nose. Her cell phone rings often to the tune of "Juicy," a hip-hop anthem by the Notorious B.I.G. She lives at home and hangs out with friends in her free time.   But when she saw the plane in the water, Catanzaro reacted like a seasoned pro who has spent a lifetime around boats. Catanzaro started driving her father's boat, the Lady Ashley, at the age of 12. Her father, she said, wanted her and her older sister to know how to work the boat in case something ever happened to him on board.

Boating for a living hasn't dampened her passion for the water. When she has time off between shifts on warm days, she often takes her family boat for a spin on the Hudson. She serves in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, and NY Waterway crew members run drills every month that simulate man-overboard situations and rescue scenarios.  On Thursday, Catanzaro pulled up close to the plane wings, where passengers had taken refuge. With guidance from the crew, she maneuvered the boat to stay abreast of the plane, which was being pulled downriver by a steady current. She deflects praise to her crew members, who were hoisting passengers onto the ferry with rescue buckets.

"They were the ones who were down there pulling people out of the water," Catanzaro said. "When I saw the people hugging my crew, that's one of the moments that really sticks with me."   Albert Maietti, of Secaucus, a shop steward working on Catanzaro's boat Friday, was docked on another boat Thursday in case rescue workers needed more help. Looking back on the previous day, he said the conditions were perfect for a rescue. The crash occurred with plenty of daylight so that rescuers could see survivors, but late enough that the afternoon rush had put more vessels in the area.

"He landed right in the midst of where all the boats were moving," Maietti said. "I called my pastor up and said, please have the church pray we get everyone out."  The captain seemed embarrassed by all the attention she has attracted, not only for the rescue, but for her presence in a male-dominated profession. The New York Times and a commuter magazine profiled her after she started working last August. On Friday, a new group of fans stuck their heads in to say hello.  "Well done, captain," said a silver-haired man with a laptop and newspaper.

"I heard you on the radio!" said another commuter.   Jim Funck, of Rumson, came up to the wheelroom to shake Catanzaro's hand. She often pilots the ferries he takes, and he remembers her appearance in the Times. On Thursday, he watched the rescue efforts from his waterfront office in Hoboken and spotted Catanzaro on television that night.  "Hello, captain, congratulations," Funck said. "Excellent job. We're really proud of you."

Her colleagues razzed her.   "Hey, superhero, what are you doing here? I thought you were on Larry King!" a man nicknamed "Bucket" – Catanzaro declined to give his real name - asked on the radio. "Can I get your autograph?"   "No autograph," Catanzaro replied, laughing. "But I'll come see you, though."

[Coleus]

The first female captain in New York Waterways history,
Brittany Catanzaro  was the second ferry captain to arrive
at the US Airways flight 1549 landing site in the Hudson River.

[Wiseghy]

A 20 yr old captains a big boat like that?

Ummm...OK...

[BBell]

It sounds like she is a truly very exceptional 20 year old who has a good bit of experience under her belt. I will say that even so it is surprising that a 20 year old would be allowed so much responsibility in this day and age.

[Paladin2]

"it is surprising that a 20 year old would be allowed so much responsibility in this day and age"

Apparently a case of nepotism (of the good kind). RTFA

[an amused spectator]

“Catanzaro started driving her father’s boat, the Lady Ashley, at the age of 12.”