The captain goes down with the ship concept has been explicitly extended in law to the pilot in command of an aircraft, in the form of laws stating that he "[has] final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight." Jurisprudence has explicitly interpreted this by analogy with the captain of a sea vessel. This is particularly relevant when an aircraft is forced to ditch in the ocean and becomes a floating vessel that will almost certainly sink. For example, following the crash of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, pilot Chesley Sullenberger was the last person to exit the partially-submerged aircraft,
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