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Chesley B. Sullenberger III Biography

Aviator

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III is the U.S. Airways pilot who was hailed as the "Hero of the Hudson" after he successfully landed an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River on 15 January 2009, saving the lives of all 155 people on board. Flight 1549 had taken off from New York's La Guardia Airport and reached an altitude of 3000 feet when both engines failed, reportedly after the plane hit a flock of geese. Sullenberger skimmed the plane to a hard landing on the Hudson, where all passengers and crew evacuated and were rescued by nearby boats before the plane sank. Sullenberger had been a U.S. Airways pilot since 1980, and flew for the U.S. Air Force from 1973-1980. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy, and also has an M.S. in Industrial Psychology from Purdue and an M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Northern Colorado. Sullenberger is also the founder of Safety Reliability Methods, a consulting firm specializing in "complex, high-risk, technical systems."

Extra credit: His co-pilot on flight 1549 was Jeffrey Skiles, 49, of Oregon, Wisconsin... Sullenberger's nickname is "Sully"... His wife, Lorrie Sullenberger, is a fitness expert who runs the website "Fit and Fabulous... Outdoors."

Blog posts mentioning Chesley B. Sullenberger III:

• "We're Gonna Be In the Hudson"
• "I had this expectation that my career would be one in which I didn't crash an airplane"
• "Hero Pilot Searched Plane Before Leaving"
• "He Looked Like David Niven in an Airplane Uniform"
• Anatomy of a Near-Disaster