A Hero

I watched the documentary, “Brace for Impact” last night. The show had interviews of Captain Sully and his first mate, passengers, and employees of the Water Authority, LaGuardia Airport and more. The plane crashed into the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. All of the passengers survived! You would have to have been living in a bubble if you haven’t heard about what Captain Sully accomplished. The advertisements for the show asked the question: Is it the man that makes the moment or the moment that makes the man? It’s the man that made the moment! I hope every survivor of that crash walked away knowing that they were given a second chance thanks to the calm, professional man in the cockpit. I got teary eyed a few times during the show, especially when Captain Sully’s calm voice said, “we’ll be in the Hudson”. WOW!

I grew up on Long Island. Two of the most travelled airports in the world are within 20 miles of my childhood home. Seeing planes fly overhead at a low altitude is an everyday occurrence. I didn’t appreciate it until my children were in my parent’s backyard playing years ago and a plane flew over the house. They ducted and were scared to death at first. Now they are in awe when we go for a visit, between the planes and squirrels – but that’s for a different post .
There’s no open space –congestion and water surround NY’s five boroughs. I guess flying is safer than I tend to think – I’m a reluctant flier, at best. With the amount of planes coming and going over that area, it’s amazing that…………never mind, let’s all knock on some wood.

How did Sully do it? How many other pilots would have gone down in the Hudson to save the lives of countless people on the ground? In those critical moments, even if a pilot wanted to make the right decision, would they have been able to do it?

Thank you Captain Sully,
NeuroticMom