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 livery smile. Two planes have been painted with heritage America West liveries - one with the mid-1990s livery and one with the 1980s livery heritage plane reflecting America West's original livery, with a US Airways logo on the front. Following the merger with American Airlines, except for the aircraft with the original America West livery, all of the heritage planes were repainted in the same livery, but with American Airlines titles on the forward fuselage replacing the US Airways titles. Additionally, American Airlines created another US Airways heritage livery post-merger: the final US Airways (2005) livery, incorporating the US Airways livery