Captain Chesley B Sullenberger III

Captain Chesley B Sullenberger III combined military and commercial flying with decades of aviation-safety work. After graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, he served as a fighter pilot, flight leader and training officer. His Air Force duties also included accident investigation. Sullenberger entered commercial aviation in 1980, accumulated more than 20,000 flight hours and retired from airline flying in 2010. As an Air Line Pilots Association safety representative, he participated in an investigation for the National Transportation Safety Board and helped develop a Crew Resource Management course used by US Airways. On 15 January 2009, he captained US Airways Flight 1549 and brought the aircraft onto the Hudson River after both engines lost power; all 155 people aboard survived. He told the wider story of his training and decisions in Highest Duty, written with journalist Jeffrey Zaslow. The memoir was retitled Sully for its 2016 film edition. Sullenberger later served as the United States representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.