Chesley Sullenberger Chesley Sullenberger Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III (born 23 January 1951) is a retired American airline captain who, on January 15, 2009, landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan after both engines were disabled by a bird strike; all 155 persons aboard survived. Sullenberger is a speaker on airline safety and has helped develop new protocols for airline safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, of the EAA's Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013. Sullenberger retired from US Airways after 30 years as a commercial pilot on March
US Airways Group is open to merger. As of September 2012, American Airlines, under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, was looking to merge with another airline. In July of that year, in a Bankruptcy Court filing US Airways disclosed that it was an American Airlines creditor and "prospective merger partner. Then on August 31, 2012, US Airways CEO Doug Parker announced that American Airlines and US Airways had signed a nondisclosure agreement, in which the airlines would discuss their financials and a possible merger." On February 14, 2013, US Airways Group and AMR Corporation officially announced that the two companies would merge to form