Captain Chelsey Sullenberger is still heralded as a hero today, 10 years after he landed an airplane on the Hudson River. Captain Sully has since retired and lives a quiet life (despite having a major motion picture made in his honor) in San Francisco with his wife, Lorrie.
He Has Appeared on CNN & Urged People to Vote for a Change on Election Day
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Although Sully said he wouldn’t run for office, he has spoken out about his concerns when it comes to America. He said that he believes that his fame has given him a gift; “a greater voice.”
“We cannot wait for someone to save us. We must do it ourselves. This Election Day is a crucial opportunity to again demonstrate the best in each of us by doing our duty and voting for leaders who are committed to the values that will unite and protect us,” Sullenberger wrote in an Op-Ed for the Washington Post before the November 2018 elections.
Although Sully didn’t mention anyone by name or give many specifics in the piece, he urged voters to do the right thing. While he admitted to once being a Republican, he said that he’s “always voted as an American.”
Looking Back at the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’
Today marks one decade since Capt. “Sully” and the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 turned what could have been a fatal tragedy into the “Miracle on the Hudson” where all 155 passengers and crew survived a ditch landing into the Hudson River. t.co/jovi8LqSlg
On that fateful day, Sully and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles saved more than 150 lives after the US Airlines flight they were on had engine trouble shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York. The Airbus A320 had come in contact with a flock of geese.
In an interview with ABC News‘ Amy Robach, Sully talked about his thoughts now a decade later.
“I think about not only what we did but what everybody else did. All the pieces had to come together. This group of strangers had to rise to the occasion and make sure that they saved every life,” Sullenberger said.
Sully explained that he was able to keep himself calm and positive through the ordeal. Once he realized that he couldn’t make it back to the airport, he told air traffic control that the plane “may end up in the Hudson.” It all happened to fast, but Sully was in complete control.
“I never had any extraneous thoughts in those few seconds that we had. I didn’t allow myself to and I didn’t have any inclination to. I never thought about my family. I never thought about anything other than controlling the flight path and solving each problem in turn until, finally, we had solved them all,” he told Robach.
Captain Sullenberger treated the frigid Hudson River like a runway, landing the plane effortlessly. Once the plane’s belly rested on the water, Sully instructed passengers and crew to exit the plane, many standing on the wings awaiting rescue. Sully himself stayed on the plane and made sure that every single passenger and crew member had made it off safely before exiting himself.
“I was deathly afraid after the landing was accomplished and we’d pulled that off that someone might slip into the water unnoticed and drown, or succumb to hypothermia,” Sully told Robach.