Sully, you da man!

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KJShover

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NEW YORK ? The pilot who guided a crippled US Airways jetliner safely into the Hudson River ? saving all 155 people aboard ? became an instant hero Thursday, with accolades from the mayor and governor and a fan club online.

The pilot of Flight 1549 was Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, of Danville, Calif., an official familiar with the accident told The Associated Press. Sullenberger is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft.

Sullenberger, who has flown for US Airways since 1980, flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations.

He is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a basis for safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site.
Sullenberger's mailbox at the firm was full on Thursday. A group of fans sprang up on Facebook within hours of the emergency landing.

"OMG, I am terrified of flying but I would be happy to be a passenger on one of your aircraft!!" Melanie Wills in Bristol wrote on the wall of "Fans of Sully Sullenberger." "You have saved a lot of peoples lives and are a true hero!!"

The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not."
"He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody behind him."

Gov. David Paterson pronounced it a "miracle on the Hudson."
A woman who answered the phone at Sullenberger's home in Danville hung up on a reporter who asked to speak with the family.
Candace Anderson, a member of the Danville town council who lives a few blocks from Sullenberger, said it was an amazing story and she was proud to live in the same town as the pilot.

"You look at his training, you look at his experience. It was just the right pilot at the right time in charge of that plane that saved so many lives," Anderson said. "He is a man who is calm, cool, collected, just as he was today."

Sullenberger's co-pilot was Jeff Skiles, 49, of Oregon, Wis., a 23-year US Airways veteran.

"He was OK," said his wife, Barbara. "He was relieved that everybody got off."
 

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Damn those Canadians!! :damn angry: LOL! That's a good landing with no engine power.
 
i'm impressed.. this will be all over the news for the next couple days i'm sure
 
Good thing he was a former F-4 pilot. Any other pilot would've lost it I'm guessing. Water landings with a jet of any kind are rare with any survivors...much less the entire plane!
 
It went through a flock of canaidian geese shortly after takeoff, they took out both engines.
Nice job of flying there Sully!
Canadian terrorist's! The canadian geese are such a pest around here that we have county and city sanctioned hunts to reduce their numbers. Officials allow hunters into parks, golf courses and other normally off limits areas to hunt them down.
Here's a quote from the Sault Ste. Marie, Mi. City Commision meeting minutes:
"A regular meeting of the City Commission was held in the Commission Room of the City-County Building, 325 Court St., Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on Monday, August 15, 2005 at 7 p.m.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Bosbous.

2. In-City Goose Hunt:

The City will be allowing an in-City goose hunt from September 1st through September 10th. This goose hunt is done in conjunction with a number of other control issues, including destruction of eggs, trans-locating adults and young geese, various efforts to scare geese, and other activities as well. These efforts are required on a continual basis in order to keep the numbers of geese sufficiently controlled in the community."
 
Great story and hats off to Sully..just waiting for the lawsuits to come (as they will) to ruin it
 
i'm sure some media somewhere or a lawsuit will try to tarnish his reputation or something...
 
Good thing he was a former F-4 pilot. Any other pilot would've lost it I'm guessing. Water landings with a jet of any kind are rare with any survivors...much less the entire plane!

As a pilot (low time, but still a pilot) I can tell you that landing like that is no different than landing gear up.. you just have to fly it till the plane wont fly anymore, and try and keep the wings away from the water so it doesn't cartwheel.. luckily the river is very, very long and you can just slow the plane until it rests gently on the water. He did an excellent job, but its not nearly as amazing to pilots as it is to non-pilots, mainly since there is so much training and procedure that goes into something like this.. Pilots are desensitized to it, they CANT panic.. panic = death.
 
to me it wasn't the landing that impressed me as the sticking around and searching the plane twice to make sure everyone was out. Seems like that feeling of responsibility and concern for your fellow man is a thing of the past in today's world.
 
Seems like that feeling of responsibility and concern for your fellow man is a thing of the past in today's world.

Sad but true. I saw a video clip of a cruise liner that got into trouble and was sinking. Only one lifeboat was operational due to all the listing. When some of the passengers went to that station they saw the captain and crew motoring away from the ship in the lifeboat.
A musician from the ship's band and a waiter helped all the passengers into rescue helicopters and got everybody, including themselves, off just before it sank.
The captain was interviewed after and said, "I gave the order to abandon ship, after that it doesn't matter who leaves first."
He shoulda been hanged, the arrogant bastard!! :damn angry:

Way to go Sully, always refreshing to hear about a good man. :clapping:
 
neat vid... i'm sure someone got paid alot for that footage.
 
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