Happy Sullyversary

Miracle Pilot: Airlines Are Putting Profits Ahead Of Safety

Chesley Sullenberger became a hero for the second time today when he testified before Congress and strongly criticized airlines for putting profits ahead of safety.

Sullenberger, a 58-year-old who joined a US Airways predecessor in 1980, told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compounded by the current recession, he said. "The bankruptcies were used by some as a fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

Sullenberger went to to say that inexperienced pilots willing to stay with the airlines for less money will result in "negative consequences for the flying public." He now works "seven days a week at two jobs just to continue a middle-class lifestyle."

Spaceman Sullenberger?

US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who with his crew was honored on the field before yesterday's Super Bowl, has a high-flying offer from Richard Branson.

U.S. Airways better guard Capt. Chesley Sullenberger 3rd. Virgin Air billionaire Richard Branson wants to poach the “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot. “I’d like him to come fly for us,” Branson tell us. “We’ll make him the best-paid pilot at Virgin — we’ll give him double [the salary of] anybody else. He also can become one of the astronauts in my intergalactic spaceship company. The man can write his own ticket with me.” Sullenberger sounded interested when we conveyed Branson’s offer. “That’s amazing,” said the man who saved the lives of 155 people when he deftly landed a jetliner in the freezing Hudson River on Jan. 15. “I hadn’t heard that.” Sully, whom we reached at his home in Danville, Calif., wouldn’t say what his next move will be, but he’s been getting offers. A lot. “I will be happy to entertain all the things that are coming my way,” he told us.

Virgin Galactic is aiming for its maiden commercial space flight in late 2010. The cost is expected to be about $200,000 or 25 million Virgin frequent flyer points. Customers of the Australia-based Virgin Blue earn a chance in their space flight lottery for every frequent flyer point they accrue.

Icy Hudson Hinders Plane Removal

The NTSB is attempting to remove the US Airways jet from the Hudson River, but the plane is now anchored in the ice. The jet is tied up to a seawall at Battery Park City at the southern tip of Manhattan about three miles downriver of the crash. More on the salvage effort and a photo gallery at Gothamist. JMG reader Ken points us to this video capturing the crash from security cameras on a Manhattan dock.

The plane's pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, has been called by Dubya, offered the key to NYC by Bloomberg, and already has a Facebook fan group with over 50,000 members. Some are even calling for NY Gov. Paterson to appoint Sullenberger to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, despite Sullenberger's residency in California.

Chesley Sullenberger

Chesley Sullenberger, 57, the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Hudson River yesterday, accomplished something never done in over 50 years of commercial aviation. When he brought his Airbus 320 to an as-perfect-as-possible landing, it was the first ever non-fatal emergency ditching for a passenger jetliner. Often, one of the wingtips will graze the water and cause the plane to cartwheel. So much went right, the plane didn't sink in the hundred foot deep Hudson, the ferries were there in seconds - but it was Sullenberger's unprecedented ditching ability that truly saved the day. The Smoking Gun has the man's amazing resume.