User:Hold-In-Hand

Hero of the Hudson: Pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 saved every passenger with miracle landing BY Alison Gendar and Larry Mcshane In New York and Geoff Gillette In Danville, Calif. DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Updated Friday, January 16th 2009, 5:49 PM Pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger III. Related NewsPhotoRescue mission in the Hudson RiverHistoric New York City plane crashesInside the US Airways Airbus A320ArticlesPDF: Drama of Flight 1549Daly: Let's honor pilot who saved Flight 1549Commercial airplane crashes in Hudson RiverPassengers tell of terror and 'miracle' of everyone's survivalPros praise his 'picture- perfect' soft touchdownHow often do birds cause plane crashes?They hear blast - but watch plane glide in for landingNo, that wasn't Jeremy Piven in the plane crashHospitals were ready for worst, but blankets & soup did jobFerry changed course to saveAfter the plunge, deadly foe was icy riverOnly 1 other safe landing in water - everTwitter user becomes Flight 1549 star reporterTo 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.

"He did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure everybody got out," said an admiring Bloomberg, who is a licensed pilot.

John and Jane Garcia, neighbors of Sullenberger in Danville, Calif., weren't at all taken aback by the pilot's utter nonchalance.

"If you met Sully, you'd understand," said John. "You'd say, 'Yep, that's Sully.'"

"It's not surprising," agreed Jane. "He's a great guy."

However, family friend Jim Walberg said being called a hero isn't likely to please Sullenberger.

"Sure, he's a hero, but he's also a humble man," said Walberg. "'Hero' isn't a name he'll take to very easily."

One of the first rescuers on the scene said Sullenberger seemed impervious to the chaos around him.

"He looked absolutely immaculate," the rescuer said. "He looked like David Niven in an airplane uniform. He looked unruffled. His uniform was sharp. You could see him walking down the aisles making sure everybody got out."

Sullenberger maintained his calm facade in a phone call to his wife, fitness expert Lorrie Sullenberger, after his death-defying heroics.

"When he called me, he said, 'There's been an accident,'" she told CNN. "At first I thought it was something minor. But then he told me the circumstances, and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/15/2009-01-15_hero_of_the_hudson_pilot_of_us_airways_f.html#ixzz0VSymjaHd