The co-pilot kept trying to restart the engines, while checking off emergency landing procedures on a three-page list that the crew normally begins at 35,000 feet.

Sullenberger guided the gliding jet over the George Washington Bridge and looked for a place to land.

Pilots are trained to set down near a ship if they have to ditch, so they can be rescued before sinking, and Sullenberger picked a stretch of water near Manhattan’s commuter ferry terminals. Rescuers were able to arrive within minutes.

It all happened so fast, the crew never threw the aircraft’s “ditch switch,” which seals off vents and holes in the fuselage to make it more seaworthy.

After the hard landing, the crew’s third flight attendant — the only one in the rear of the aircraft — made the decision not to open the back exits, she told NTSB investigators Saturday, the day she was released from the hospital.

Before she could get the rearmost passengers headed for the front of the plane, one woman managed to open one of the doors a crack, letting water into the cabin. Only once they were by the front exit did the flight attendant feel woozy and realize she had a deep laceration in her leg.

Great job sir, you are a hero.

Presidential medal? Let’s give the man a good, rock-solid conservative capitalist result: Apparently the pilot has a consulting business on the side. He teach people how to apply the safety procedures of the airline to the business world.

Mal Carne on January 16, 2009 at 11:18 PM

I think he’ll get his capitalist reward: he’ll be able to make big bucks on the lecture circuit now. (Deservedly so, of course).

I hope the survivors remembered to thank a higher power for the outcome. If anything they all could have died from exposure to the cold water.

johnnyU on January 17, 2009 at 4:59 AM

According to media reports, “everybody” on board was praying. I expect there were many “thank-you” prayers as everyone got off the plane safely.

Good work by everyone, from captain and crew to passengers and river rescue workers.

I hope the survivors remembered to thank a higher power for the outcome. If anything they all could have died from exposure to the cold water.

That’s a pretty narrow definition of hero.

It’s the only definition that makes sense. If somebody gets himself out of tight squeeze, we don’t call him a hero. He saved his own behind and that is good enough. Everybody else on that plane was redundant. Pilots themselves have this as a saying: Save yourself, and the passengers will be okay.

A hero is, by logical definition, someone who does something dangerous for the benefit of others which they don’t have to do. That option to engage danger when safety was the easier route, is the very principle behind the notion of the hero. If you expand that definition to include everyone who has ever performed better than expected in a trying situation, then you can call almost anyone a hero at some point and then the word, and the concept it expresses, loses its meaning.

Let’s not cheapen things. Liberals do that for us. They cheapen our culture. They cheapen our language. And now, by printing trillions for bailouts, they are even cheapening our currency. Things lose meaning. Awarding a MOH in this situation would be to put this very phenomenon into minted form.

Even if you have to swim for it.

That was some seriously nifty flying.

-Dave

I’ll 178,997,654,366 that

“Every once in a while, the Creator looks down from on high, extend his finger to an newborn infant, and intones: That one shall have balls of F***ing granite”.

Apparently, the pilot got the nod from the Big Man on this one

Presidential medal? Let’s give the man a good, rock-solid conservative capitalist result: Apparently the pilot has a consulting business on the side. He teach people how to apply the safety procedures of the airline to the business world.

Think he knows his stuff?

The Presidential Medal of Freedom, medal awarded annually by the President of the United States to individuals selected by him or recommended to him by the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board. Recipients of the medal are those who have made outstanding contributions to the security or national interest of the United States or to world peace, or those who have made a significant public or private accomplishment.

It says nothing about “Doing more than your job.”

I believe that this man “made a significant public or private accomplishment.” He’s qualified.

And it is in no way “feminizing” to honor someone who has a dangerous job for doing it better than most other men could in a time such as this. Were all of the pilots who could pull this kind of maneuver off in the past just a bunch of pikers? Were they slackers who just didn’t know how to do their job? Or were they good men who “did their job.”

This gentleman went to great lengths to make sure that he was prepared for a situation like this. And when the situation arose, he was up to the task.

Ares,
Have you looked at the people who have received the Medal of Freedom? Do you know how many athletes and entertainers have won it? If Julia Child and Rita Moreno deserved it this man certainly does.

Rocks on January 16, 2009 at 11:05 PM

I am a massive fan of Julia Child so I won’t comment on that.

Would he deserve it if he’d tanked it and they’d all drowned? Honest question.

“…for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States,

He followed orders, granted, and provided an alternate target for outrage from opponents to the WOT.

(2) world peace

Q.E.D.

Say what?

He was a self-important poodle.

Ares on January 16, 2009 at 10:54 PM said

didn’t Tony Blair get this medal?

ahem

“…for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace

Q.E.D.

While a low-altitude flameout over Lower Manhattan definitely pegs the pucker-factor gauge, airline pilots face tough real-time judgement calls every day. The fact that so few of them wind up on the news is a testament to their extraordinary level of professionalism.

And, like most media stories fixated on a single person, the heroic actions of the rest of the team are likely to go unheralded. Here’s a shout-out to the window-exit passengers who had the presence of mind to review the instructions for removing the overwing exit hatches, and the cabin crew who got everyone out with no loss of life or permanent injury.

Ares,
He did more than his job. It was perfection. Perfection is not part of the job. Perfection should be honored. Perfection inspires other people to not just do their job but to strive for perfection. That is exactly what Medals were designed for.

Rocks on January 16, 2009 at 9:55 PM

Criteria here:

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/

President John F. Kennedy authorized the practice of awarding Presidential Medals of Freedom to persons “for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors” (Executive Order 11085 dated Feb. 22, 1963).

With respect, I think the medal has a place and it is not here.

Once you blur the lines of distinction with awards you end up, as the Brits have, debasing them – I give you Sir Paul McCartney as an example.

That said, didn’t Tony Blair get this medal?

The pandemic use of the word Hero is tiresome. I realize in these feminized times where men are boys and boys are girls, there is a dearth of anything resembling a hero, and this consequently nominates any man who changes his own tire a hero, but we must be honest with facts. A hero is someone who, of his own volition, risks his own life to save the lives of others.

keep the change on January 16, 2009 at 7:21 PM

Indeed narrow KTC. We see heroic things everyday from police, firemen, etc. What makes these things heroic is not just that they were done but because the person prepared for such a situation and performed flawlessly. Read this pilot’s resume, it’s no accident he was the one to perform such a flawless maneuver. Heroes are prepared, most especially to save lives, and that is exactly what this pilot was and has done. He is a hero in every sense of the word. People put their lives in his hands and he didn’t fail them, when everything says he could have.

Bush should make it his final act as President to give the pilot the Medal of Freedom.

Rocks on January 16, 2009 at 5:53 PM

No. He did an awesome piece of work but it was his job. The Medal of Freedom is about doing more than your job.

Members of the military perform all kinds of genuinely brave acts regularly but only a handful get the CMOH which is the military equivalent of the MOF.

Perspective please.

A hero is someone who, of his own volition, risks his own life to save the lives of others.

That’s a pretty narrow definition of hero. I have a very personal connection with this incident as my husband went through a similar experience last year when an oxygen bottle exploded on his aircraft. He did everything required, along with his crew, to bring it safely to the ground. He doesn’t think of himself as a hero, but everyone on board does and I don’t see how you can deny them that feeling and that need to elevate him to super status. Who cares if everyone else thinks he’s a hero? Let them. Helps them cope, and believe me you need something like that after you’ve been through what is essentially a near-death experience.
I can also tell you that Sully will be feeling very high from the adrenalin for a few days and so glad he didn’t stuff up and cause anyone to be hurt, but in a week or two he will come down from it, and it will be bloody hard for him and his family, especially with the media feeding frenzy surrounding him at the moment. I hope his airline is keeping a good eye on him and the rest of the crew. Sometimes the enormity of it doesn’t sink in for a fair while, after all the hero-worship dies down, and then it can hit you like a train wreck.

It’s cool that this hero lives in Danville, I grew up in the East Bay not far from Danville. Of course he’s also a former Airforce pilot and use to fly F-4 Phantoms, one of my all time favorite fighters!

Liberty or Death on January 16, 2009 at 6:05 PM

Of course we had him first. Born and raised Texan.