[Rhodes22-list] Re member brother Brad when you think of this

[Tootle]

As most of you know, Brad is an experience pilot.  Most recently spent most
of his time training newbies.  As a child barnstormer he did some naughty
things.  Some of you will remember his plane with horses on fire.  In a
tight situation some pilots have it.  

Now read the background of the pilot on yesterdays Hudson River incident:

Hudson River hero is ex-Air Force fighter pilot
Thursday, January 15, 2009 9:34 PM EST 
The Associated Press 
By AMY WESTFELDT Associated Press Writer 

NEW YORK (AP) — The pilot who guided a crippled US Airways jetliner safely
into the Hudson River — saving all 155 people aboard — became an instant
hero Thursday, with accolades from the mayor and governor and a fan club
online.

The pilot of Flight 1549 was Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, of
Danville, Calif., an official familiar with the accident told The Associated
Press. Sullenberger is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting
firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft.

Sullenberger, who has flown for US Airways since 1980, flew F-4 fighter jets
with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated
aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation
Safety Board investigations.

Sullenberger had been studying the psychology of keeping airline crews
functioning even in the face of crisis, said Robert Bea, a civil engineer
who co-founded UC Berkeley's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.

Bea said he could think of few pilots as well-situated to bring the plane
down safely than Sullenberger.

"When a plane is getting ready to crash with a lot of people who trust you,
it is a test.. Sulley proved the end of the road for that test. He had
studied it, he had rehearsed it, he had taken it to his heart."

Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm
that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a basis for
safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site.

Sullenberger's mailbox at the firm was full on Thursday. A group of fans
sprang up on Facebook within hours of the emergency landing.

"OMG, I am terrified of flying but I would be happy to be a passenger on one
of your aircraft!!" Melanie Wills in Bristol wrote on the wall of "Fans of
Sully Sullenberger." "You have saved a lot of peoples lives and are a true
hero!!"

The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then
making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He
walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify
that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not."

"He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody
behind him."

Gov. David Paterson pronounced it a "miracle on the Hudson."

A woman who answered the phone at Sullenberger's home in Danville hung up on
a reporter who asked to speak with the family.

Candace Anderson, a member of the Danville town council who lives a few
blocks from Sullenberger, said it was an amazing story and she was proud to
live in the same town as the pilot.

"You look at his training, you look at his experience. It was just the right
pilot at the right time in charge of that plane that saved so many lives,"
Anderson said. "He is a man who is calm, cool, collected, just as he was
today."

Sullenberger's co-pilot was Jeff Skiles, 49, of Oregon, Wis., a 23-year US
Airways veteran.

"He was OK," said his wife, Barbara. "He was relieved that everybody got
off."

posted by Ed K



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