Considerations for all back seat drivers, arm chair quarterbacks, sim
"pilots", and Microsoft Flight aces:

1. Departure procedures from most all major airports are essentially
flown under Instrument Flight Rules. That means the pilot flying both
controls and navigates the aircraft using the cockpit
instrumentation. This requires quite a bit of heads down
concentration looking inside at the instrument panel. The pilot not
flying is the one who is clearing the flight path. This is especially
true during an instrument approach.

2. Departure climbout airspeed is to accelerate to 250 knots. But
even an atypical climb restricted to 200 knots means the jet is
travelling twice the velocity at which most us glider pilots start
sucking the seat cushion up our behinds--and causes the world to go by
twice as fast and accordingly adverse situations develop twice as
quickly.

3. The human eye discerns relative motion. Birds in flight (and
gliders for that matter) aren't easily noticed until the motion is
made noticable by relative proximity. Who knows when, exactly, the
copilot saw the geese, but my guess it was likely too late to do
anything about it. But even if,

4. A 170,000# jet at 200-ish knots, at that point in the climb with
slats and flaps retracted, manuvers like an overengorged PIG. You see
something and make a flight control input you might as well count 1-
mississippi, 2-mississippi...

5. Frightened birds tend to dive. Assuming the flock was initially
above and ahead of the airliner, a manuver to pull up would act to
ascerbate the possibility that birds would be ingested by the
engines. Lateral manuvers only work if you see the impending conflict
far enough out, and a push over manuver with an airplane full of
passengers is counterintuitive.

6. The copilot is a 23-year USAir "veteran" in his own right.
Assuming he flys, comercially, the industry average 800 hours per year
(NTE 1000 hour), and taking into account the 2000 flight hours USAir
was requiring to be hired as a pilot 23 years ago, he presumably has
over 20,000 hour flight time under his belt. And (also industry
standard) one can assume half that time is as the sole manipulator of
controls flying every other leg. His not being a "captain" in his own
right by now is due to his airline shrinking in size and lack of pilot
retirements, not due to inexperience.

7. The two pilots, through combined skill and coordinated effort, took
a dire situation resulting simply from the misfortune of being in the
wrong place at the wrong time and, in the terms of potential for loss
of lives, accomplished something statistically miraculous.

8. If all the second-guessing is any indication, the sad fact is
they'll likely be sued regardless of the heroic outcome.

So how 'bout let's give this line of suspicious inquiry a rest and get
back to the forum's normal programing excitement (like how best to
sand off gelcote/how fast would a glider fly final on Mars/flaps vs.
spoilers)!