Today the Brainucopia is brimming over with good feelings for pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III. Sully is the pilot who so skillfully managed to land a dead jet into the Hudson River--next to the ferry terminal, no less. The amazing feat resuted in no deaths and no serious injuries.Those who know aviation have repeatedly said that although the entire event was a miracle, it was, without question, the exceptional skills of pilot Sullenberger that resulted in 150 people not losing their lives.
In 1994, May and her not-yet husband were on a US Airways flight that nearly crashed on its descent into Baltimore's BWI airport. Tragedy was avoided on that day, also, because of a skilled and quick-thinking pilot. We understand how it feels at that second when you realize your plane may not make it safely to the ground, and the relief that fills you when you actually get there.
So today, we applaud Chesley Sullenberger and pilots like him who not only know how to fly a disabled plane, but who also look after the safety of every person on board.
Cheers!
2 comments:
OK, I'm starting to get scared about US Air. I know two other people who almost crashed on US Air flights. That's a total of 3. I fly US Air for business at least 3 times a year, starting to think I need to take Quantas just to get to Ohio, like Rain Man.
Take some comfort in the fact that our close call was not due to flying on US Air. The BWI tower cleared us to land on the same runway where they had cleared another plane to take off. The pilot aborted the landing by overriding the computer-programmed descent and taking manual control when he saw--with his human eyes--what was about to happen on the ground. Let's hear it for good pilots.
It's hard to fly the East Coast and not take US Airways. When I flew for business, that's what I flew almost exclusively. At least they seem to hire competent pilots.
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