‘Miracle on the Hudson’ hero retiring

[MicaelS]

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who piloted a US Airways flight during its emergency water landing on the Hudson River in January of last year, is retiring Wednesday.
Sullenberger, 59, joined US Airways' predecessor airline in 1980.

Flight attendant Doreen Welsh, who was also on Flight 1549 when it landed in the Hudson, is also retiring. Welsh, 59, joined US Airways' predecessor airline in 1970.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35688025/ns/travel-news/

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Good luck to a great pilot. And also the rest of the crew and especially Flight attendant Doreen Welsh.

[tabatha]

1. He has earned it.

He looks old for only 59.

[avaistheone1]

3. Don't judge a book by its cover.

Captain "Sully"'s judgment and reactions certainly were razor sharp when he landed that plane on the Hudson.

I wish there were more like him piloting commercial planes.

[tabatha]

9. Mental skills do not deteriote that much with age.

I am not saying he looks old in a negative way ---- rather in a way that he needs a break.

[Renew Deal]

2. He can replace Regis when he retires

:silly:

[heli]

4. Good for him

[dr.strangelove]

5. Good Luck to him

I don't know much about him, other than his one famous flight, but it sounds like he worked for 30 years for this airline and has earned a long and happy retirement.

[nyy1998]

6. A well deserved retirement.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. The GOPers have already tried to recruit him to run against a Dem congressman.

Sully lives in the district formerly represented by Pombo, now represented by Jerry McNerney. Sully told them he wasn't interested.

[MicaelS]

8. More here.....

http://www.ktvu.com/news/22727433/detail.html?hpt=T2

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. Let's all hope he keeps doing his other work - pilot safety training- even as he stops

active flight duty.

Anyone who has NOT viewed the Hudson landing - complete with the actual cockpit voice transmissions to the towers as Sully and co-pilot calmly go thru the checklist for engine failure- has not seen a real life example of 'nerves of steel'

[salguine]

11. I get so sick of the term "miracle" thrown around like this. This was not a miracle. It was

an extraordinary feat of airmanship by an exceptionally skilled and experienced pilot.

[Zoeisright]

12. Thank you. 'Miracles' do not happen. What about other planes that went down that year?

A 'miracle' is something that violates the laws of physics. This did not.

I'll believe in 'miracles' when I see that someone has regrown an amputated limb. Everything else can be faked. And has been.

[DissedByBush]

13. God wanted them to die

If you call this a miracle saying God wanted these people specifically to live then logically you have to say God wanted the people who died in other plane crashes around then to die.

I guess they weren't worthy. Maybe they weren't praying as hard when the plane was going down.

Or you could just chalk it up to pilot skill and luck.

[Plucketeer]

14. Heh - I gets SO TIRED of that "God's will" crap.

If you LIVE, it's God's Will - if you die, it's God's will. If you fall horribly ill, or end up living on the streets, it's God's will. Funny how you never hear anyone comment that it's God's will if someone lives, or falls into, a life of luxurious excess. Then you're just a rich son of a bitch!

What' bad about Sully's retirement is that it's not just him that's one of the old garde of airline pilots. Pilots who were paid according to their responsibilities and experience are either gone now or at the end of their career. Now we have airline pilots on food stamps. Some so inexperienced that we end up with a situation like that Continental commuter flight that crashed due to crew incompetence.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. Well-earned retirement.

I hope it is a happy and productive time for him.