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 US 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.
Passenger David Sanderson told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric the pilots deserve all the credit for saving the passengers.
"When I was watching how it was coming down, there was no way he could have landed on the ground," Sanderson said from his New Jersey hospital bed. "He did the right thing, so I give him all the credit. It was pretty much controlled chaos on the plane."
When he's not flying planes, Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a base for safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site.
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."
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."
She said she and her husband couldn't remember an accident as serious as this in his career.
The flight was in air for about three minutes before it went down. It had reached a maximum altitude of 3,200 feet before it began descending and he last reported air speed was 172 mph. It went down around 46th Street in Manhattan before the fuselage came to a rest around 23rd Street.
The plane is currently tied off at a pier in Battery Park City. The NTSB is assembling a team of 20 to go over every square inch of the plane.
Experts say the pilots conducted a very controlled emergency landing after the engines went out, likely why the plane was able to remain upright as it landed and remained one piece.
"The pilot deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). "They did an amazing and miraculous job."
Passengers could be seen standing on the wing of the plane and entering rescue boats and a rescue ferry almost immediately after it crashed. Hundreds of firefighters, police officers, and Port Authority officers responded to the scene. Two crews of divers were also sent to the scene, and it's believed the most urgent part of the rescue operation was over by 4:20 p.m.
The plane eventually came to a rest in the water by the USS Intrepid, before drifting south on the Hudson and stopping at Battery Park, by Ground Zero, ironically.
Temperatures at the time of the crash in the city were just about 20 degrees, with the water temperature about 40 degrees.
(Source: WCBSTV)
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