Chesley Sullenberger 29 to 31, 2007. On January 15, 2009, Sullenberger was the captain of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Shortly after takeoff, the plane struck a large flock of birds (Canada geese) and lost power in both engines. Quickly determining he would be unable to reach either LaGuardia or Teterboro airport, Sullenberger piloted the plane to a water landing on the Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived and were rescued by nearby boats. Sullenberger said later: "It was very quiet as we worked, my copilot Jeff Skiles and
US Airways new "US Airways Group" would be owned by "America West Holdings" stockholders, 11% by the old "US Airways Group" debtholders and 52% by new equity investors. The result was the 5th largest US based airline in terms of revenue. After the merger, the new airline retained the US Airways name, since studies indicated that "US Airways" had better brand recognition worldwide than did "America West". In early 2003, US Airways management liquidated the pensions of its 6,000 pilots by releasing their pensions into the federal pension program Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The company was one of the first major airlines