the right man in the left seat

150 people boarded flight 1549 last Thursday morning. One man was heading for a fishing trip with his brothers and dad... another was heading to Denver for a presentation... another family was excited to be breaking away for an extended ski weekend.

and none of them expected to be standing on the wings of the A320 Airbus as it sank into the Hudson River 10 minutes later (but I bet all of them were wishing they had paid better attention to the flight attendant as she did her little safety speech..). A scant 3 minutes after takeoff, flight 1549 encountered a flock of geese, several of which were ingested into both engines... and with a pair of brilliant explosions, this 85-ton engineering masterpiece became a very ungainly glider with very little altitude.

It is not terribly uncommon for ducks and geese to disable jet engines... but when they disable both engines on a twin engine aircraft, it gets really serious in a hurry. 27 years ago (almost to the day), Air Florida flight 90 crashed into the Potomac River shortly after takeoff from National Airport in D.C. 78 people died in that crash.

and that's what makes the rest of this story so remarkable!

Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger was at the controls of flight 1549 last Thursday... and everyone survived!

Sullenberger spent practically his whole life preparing for the five-minute crucible that was US Airways Flight 1549.

A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate who flew F-4 fighter planes while in the Air Force, he got his pilot's license at 14, flew fighter jets in the Air Force, investigated air disasters, mastered glider flying and even studied the psychology of how cockpit crews behave in a crisis.

Two years ago, Sullenberger started a California consulting firm, Safety Reliability Methods. It advertises itself as offering companies ways to apply the latest safety advances from "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation."

When the ultimate test came on a descent over the Hudson River, he spoke into the intercom only once and gave perhaps the most terrifying instruction a pilot can give — "Brace for impact" — with remarkable calm.

One Airplane expert commented that "while all pilots are highly trained for every eventuality, there are perhaps a half dozen pilots on the planet who are as uniquely qualified as Captain Sullenberger for this specific set of circumstances..." a fighter pilot... a glider pilot (are you kidding me?)... owner of an air traffic safety consulting firm (wow).... a student of how pilots react in a crisis (you're joking, right?!!?)

As passenger after passenger were interviewed after being fished from the Hudson, each had a different take on the crash... but everyone agreed that the pilot saved their lives. and for the families of the all the passengers and crew on flight 1549, I'll bet they agree on one thing:

God placed the right man in the left seat.