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
History of the Hudson River their ancestral territory, naming the river "Muhheakantuck" ("river that flows two ways"). The first known European name for the river was the Rio San Antonio as named by the Portuguese explorer in Spain's employ, Esteban Gomez, who explored the Mid-Atlantic coast in 1525. Another early name for the Hudson used by the Dutch was "Rio de Montaigne". Later, they generally termed it the "Noortrivier", or "North River", the Delaware River being known as the "Zuidrivier", or "South River". Other occasional names for the Hudson included: "Manhattes rieviere" "Manhattan River", "Groote Rivier" "Great River", and "de grootte Mouritse reviere", or "the