Flight 1549’s hero

Man – with all the negative news we get everyday, it sure is nice to read a story like this:

To friends and family, he’s just “Sully.” To the rest of the world, Chesley Sullenberger is now a miracle worker with a pilot’s license.

The former Air Force fighter pilot remained cool, calm and collected both before and after successfully ditching his US Airways flight into the Hudson River.

“That pilot is a stud,” said one police source. “After the crash, he was sitting there in the ferry terminal, wearing his hat, sipping his coffee and acting like nothing happened.”

Sullenberger, 57, looks more like Clark Kent than Superman: He’s balding, slightly built, with a thin mustache. But he emerged from the slowly sinking fuselage of Flight 1549 as one of Gotham’s brightest heroes, able to land engineless airplanes in a single try.

“Brace for impact,” he warned the passengers before ditching the plane, a voice of lone calm in the seconds before they crashed.

Sullenberger wasn’t done once his plane was down. He undid his safety belt and walked the length of the plane to make sure all the passengers were safely outside, Mayor Bloomberg said.

Once finished, Sullenberger turned around and made a second pass as the plane steadily took on water – and only then did he finally exit.

The Smoking Gun has more on this amazing hero.

Fausta suggests that Sullenberger get recognition on a local and national level from The Powers That Be. I agree.