OT: Sullenberger Award

Celtic Wolf · January 2009

I know this is 200% off-topic and it's not something I usually would do, but this guy deserves an Award.

This bravery and honor are beyond any questions. The number of lives he saved will never truly be known.

Let's put our voices to to this.

Capt. Sullenberger - US Airway Flight 1649

Rascal · January 2009

How about that fat slob from the NTSB? She couldn't get through the first minute of the interview without mouthing off about how the crew was being tested for drugs! Give me a break! Was not some praise due here? I think she should be tested for drugs along with all the members of Congress!!

BuffaloChip · January 2009

Yeah that got me too. Not something she had to say. But.... it is standard practice in many industries these days. I work at a nuke plant and besides the random testing if an accident occurs, no matter how minor, the person/people involved are tested. Pilot Sullenberger is a hero along with his crew!

Rascal · January 2009

Having been a 32 year veteran, flight crew member (cockpit, major airline) I fully understand the post-accident protocol. However, in this case, the NTSB chose a moron for a spokesperson! As a side note, I had a number of bird encounters over the years, the most severe involved injesting a seagull shortly after takeoff from La Guardia. If there was ever a fitting time for a remake of the movie "God Is My Co-Pilot", this miraculous ditching in the Hudson River would be it!

aircowboy · January 2009

As a current Major Airline pilot let me remind everyone the media is way off base here. The Captain is not a hero.......the crew are HEROES plural!!! Almost nothing has been said of the First Officer (who very well could have been the one flying the plane and the flight attendants. Those Flight attendants were consummate professionals and are directly responsible for making sure everyone got out safely. They all did a great job at what we call CRM Crew Resource Management which is to say working together and using every resource available to bring about a safe outcome. The media seems to have forgotten we did away with the Captain=God thing years ago in the interest of Safety. That being said well done!!!!

I think some media types are chomping at the bit to dig up dirt and twist this back into something they can make into a controversy and drag out. One newspaper even made the Captains Grade school report public!!!!

Rascal · January 2009

Ok, dahlin, but the end result is that the Captain signs the 'Flight Release' and is ultimately responsible for the safety of the aircraft and its occupants (including all crew members). Do you really fathom that he sat there idly while all this was going on. Regardless of whose hands were on the yoke, he was undoubtedly in command of the performance! What the hell are you smokin'??

Jeffersonian · January 2009

All I can think of is that scene at the end of "The Right Stuff" where Chuck Yeager's plane has crashed and the ground crew is racing out to the crash site. It goes a little like this:

Man #1: Look, is that a man over there?

Man #2: You damn right it is.

Sullenberger and the whole crew deserve nothing but accolades for their performance.

Charleston Dave · January 2009

I'm with you, CW, it was surely a remarkable feat.

The existing medal for civilian heroism is the Carnegie Medal.

I suppose the newly elected President Obama could give a Presidential Medal of Freedom to the intrepid captain, although those typically acknowledge careers. Another Presidential option would be to invite him to sit in a place of prominence at the next State of the Union address; I'm betting on that one.

I am a bit curious about the mandatory retirement age for pilots. Wasn't there a big kerfuffle a while back about forcing pilots to retire regardless of tested skills once they reached a certain age? From the pictures, Capt. Sullenberger is obviously a man of a few years. I'm just wondering how close to "forced" retirement he is, and whether his remarkable performance might influence the discussion about forced retirements. Do ya think anybody who survived that is wishing they had a younger pilot?

No diminution implied of the work by the other members of the flight crew, Cowboy, and I think you're obviously right in noting the team philosophy that got everybody out safely.

WessB · January 2009

OH MY...let's not let a wonderful turn of events turn into a pissin match here...the entire "Crew" did a great job..the "media" never does...reality..

Semolina Pilchard · January 2009

The captain is 57 years old. Retirement age is (or was) 60. Several years ago a jetliner had a major section of the top rip off. The pilot was 59 years old. All the experts I saw on tv said a less experienced pilot could have never landed the plane. A few months later he turned 60 and was forced to retire.
The problem with no set retirement age, how exactly do you know when someone should no longer be in control of a tube with over 300 souls on it?

stike · January 2009

i think if you ask sullenberger, he'll tell you he was doing his job and that he doesn't want anything for it.

like the guys that stormed pointe du hoc.

none of them would agree they were heroes. they all point to the guys that didn't make it.

but they all are.

i can't help but think of the footage of flight united 232. i bet sullenberger would point to that pilot as a hero, while we'd be pointing at them both

OT: Sullenberger Award

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