By Reid Collins on 1.27.09 @ 6:06AM
Why has Chesley Sullenberger refused the mantle of hero?
Despite the media's best efforts, Chesley Sullenberger has
refused the mantle of "hero." Now, why?
Didn't "Sully" pilot his Airbus A320 to a safe landing in the
middle of the Hudson River after its takeoff was stymied by a
flock of Canada Geese? And didn't all 155 on board make it safely
off the sinking airliner, wet and chastened by the intimate
knowledge of near death? Well, sure, but -- and we'll get to
that.
Sully's co-pilot had control of the big twin engine jet as it
took off from LaGuardia Airport January 15, but when the birds
struck and the engines died, Sully took control. LaGuardia was
considered as a return point, but the pilot banked left, with New
Jersey's Teterboro Airport in the distance. A slim chance with no
power. He veered over the George Washington Bridge and began a
pilot's nightmare, a dead-stick landing in water. The trick is to
lose as much speed as possible without stalling and to make that
final moment in level flight, taildown. If there was anything
going for Sully it was that the river current was running with
him. As we know, the plane made it into the water evenly, the
left engine giving way but the plane remaining upright in the
water -- so much so that 155 people could make their way safely
through the emergency doors and onto the wings, wet but alive.
A hero, Sully? He avoided publicity at the outset, partly because
the Transportation Safety Board doesn't like the crews of planes
involved in accidents spouting off about the experience (the feds
like to issue their "probable cause" findings months and months
after the event) and probably because he knows what a real hero
is. Despite the old definitions about Greek warriors, real
heroism requires sacrifice. A hero, by modern standards, is one
who disregards his own safety in order to aid others. Sully's
feat, a remarkable piece of airmanship, did not involve his
leaving a place of safety in order to help the others. He was
one of the others. His own tail was one of the 155 in
such jeopardy.
He explained that the plane's crew was "simply doing the job we
were trained to do."
There are at least 154 others who would beg to differ with that
simplification.
If we cannot have a hero, is there some one or thing to blame?
Sure. Not too many years ago it was feared that the Canada goose
and a smaller cousin might soon be extinct, at least in the
United States. Hunters mourned their declining numbers. But
environmental efforts were successful until today we have what is
in many areas a goose surfeit. Ask a golfer who plays courses in
the Eastern United States.
And if you get the chance, ask a goose: "Why, in the middle of
January, are you still here? You, migratory bird, are supposed to
be south by now." Somehow the regenerated Canadians seem to enjoy
life in the northern states even into winter. Which probably
accounts for a flock of them crossing the outbound trace of an
Airbus A320 at LaGuardia Airport in mid-January.
topics:
US Airways Flight 1549, Chesley Sullenberger, Canada Geese
