Hudson river plane crash pilot hailed as a hero

Jan 16 2009 By Gary Marks

However, family friend Jim Walberg said being called a hero isn’t likely to please Sullenberger.

“Sure, he’s a hero, but he’s also a humble man,” said Walberg. “’Hero’ isn’t a name he’ll take to very easily.”

Sullenberger maintained his calm facade in a phone call to his wife, fitness expert Lorrie, after his death-defying heroics.

“When he called me, he said, ‘There’s been an accident,’” she said. “At first I thought it was something minor. But then he told me the circumstances, and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school.”

Today, former BA pilot Eric Moody said: This pilot did a first class job, he knew exactly what he was doing.

“It would have been a flock of pretty large birds to stop the engines. He may not have lost power completely before landing, but either way he did a great job.”

Aviation expert James Ferguson said he had never seen anything like it.

“If you hit water fairly hard, the aircraft tends to break up. But this one seems to be virtually undamaged.”