Let's Hear It for the Boy

[dreamsguy]

Again, apologies to BD for the title idea theft. I thought it was appropriate for today's subject, which is Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III from US Airways flight 1549.  This guy did a fantastic job at the controls.  That is the key word to the entire situation, control.  Oddly enough, I am one of small group of people (alive) that have experienced what he went through during his emergency.  Of course, his situation was many times greater in magnitude than mine.  I too, was piloting an airplane with passengers (just one plus me) who's lives I was responsible for, when suddenly all power was lost.  With making the runway not a possibility, you look for the next best immediately available option.  I had the choice of a large clearing within a forest, or a just barely out of reach abandoned runway, preceded by a relatively flat area of dirt running 150 feet or so.  The clearing was considerably larger, but I would have had to make a sharp turn, under no power, to set up a descent, then another sharp turn to reach it.   Plus, the trees surrounding it meant I would have had to drop down another 50 ft or more after clearing the treeline, significantly reducing my landing area.  I probably could have done it, using a crab approach technique which I had done for many landings (they're fun, hence the practice), but I thought it was too risky.  I opted for the abandoned runway/dirt patch, because it was the option that I could best maintain control of the aircraft.  And I'm happy to say that both pilot and passenger are fine today.  Captain "Sully" was advised to head to a Jersey airport.  I'm sure he felt his best option was to ditch it in the river, knowing he could maintain control of the plane all the way down.  And he did it well.

So I personally would like to say "Nice job, Captain."

I also think Chesley is a pretty cool name.