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Greed-to-Grief, No. 22

Greed-to-Grief, No. 22

Was it really The Miracle on the Hudson?

George Pillari
October 16, 2025

Remember the Miracle on the Hudson? On January 15, 2009, a US Airways flight piloted by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York at 3:25 PM. At 3:27 PM, the aircraft struck a flock of Canadian geese at about 2,800 feet altitude, causing both engines to lose power.

Captain Sullenberger, who learned to fly at 16 years old

Captain Sullenberger successfully ditched the aircraft on the Hudson River at 3:31 PM. A heart-pounding flight that lasted six minutes. All 155 people aboard (150 passengers and 5 crew members) survived, making it one of the most successful emergency landings in aviation history.

Passengers and crew awaiting rescue on freezing waters of the Hudson River

Sully was immediately hailed as a national hero while the Air Force Academy graduate and Mensa member maintained his “Aw shucks” demeanor and said he was just doing his job. A week after the Miracle, Sully attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Then it was on to being a special guest at the Super Bowl and throwing out the first pitch at the World Series.

In congressional testimony and appearances in the media, Sully kept the focus on aviation safety and not his own fame. Who didn’t love this guy?

The National Traffic Safety Board does not love or hate anybody, it just investigates, identifies the causes of airplane crashes, and makes recommendations to the industry for safety improvements to prevent future crashes.

I once went to a dreadfully boring dinner and wound up seated next to the head of the NTSB. By the end of the night, I didn’t want to leave. Smart guy and deeply interested in understanding the root causes of major disasters. (Neither one of paid much attention to the dinner speaker.)

NTSB investigations of a major plane crash can last one to two years and sometimes longer. Interviews, evidence-gathering, and the flight-data recorders are all important parts of an investigation, as are the flight simulations.

The flight simulations use experienced pilots and are re-creations of the actual event driven by computer models.

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The burning question for the NTSB investigators was, “Why ditch the plane in the Hudson River when both LaGuardia and Teterboro Airports were close by?”

After recovering the engines from the bottom of the river, investigators concluded that a massive bird strike clogged up and shut down both engines, a rare event. Once his plane lost power Sully needed to make a decision on where to land the plane.

In his calculus, he was not sure if he could glide his plane to one of the airports, and falling short would mean crashing a huge jetliner, full of aviation fuel, into a densely populated area.

In the first simulations, the bird strike shuts down the engines and the simulator pilots make the turn and glide safely to one of the airports. At this point Sully, the national hero and now an icon of the aviation world, is being asked why he didn’t do what the simulator pilots did.

NTSB investigators gather evidence, black box recordings, and run flight simulations to identify why planes crash

Investigators did not feel this was a “gotcha” moment but were confused by the simulator results compared with what the experienced captain actually did. As the situation grew more uncomfortable for Sully and his team, they said, “Wait a minute, the simulation is missing something.”

What was missing was the time required to assess the situation before deciding on a course of action. The initial simulator pilots were told when the engines lose power, make a run for it.

But that’s not how it works in the real world. When a decision-making delay of 35 seconds was introduced into the simulation, only one of the next 20 simulated flights made it to an airport, and Sully was vindicated.

That 35 seconds does not feel like much time if you are piloting a plane climbing out of takeoff when suddenly you lose power. There are all kinds of checklists and procedures that occur as the pilot had no idea why the engines shut down. Heck, a stalled jet engine in mid-flight requires 60 to 120 seconds to restart and you have to try that first.

Sully had the right kind of greed, the greed for life. It is lucky for him and all of us that his grief was temporary. Sully published a couple of books and remains as a speaker and educator in demand around the world.

Historian Daniel Boorstin once said that a celebrity was a big name, but a hero was a big man. Sully is a big man.

Key Takeaways

Sully’s decision making drew upon his database of 30 years of flying all kinds of aircraft in all kinds of conditions. His “snap decision” was anything but. Don’t trust your gut, trust your knowledge and experience.
The NTSB had a difficult situation since everybody survived the ditching in the river and Sully was a national hero before the investigation even started. Credit to the agency for remaining objective and following its process.
Sully has done a remarkable job of harnessing his fame to make the world a better place. How would you handle such instant notoriety?

Things I think about

During Spain’s Civil War in the 1930s, chocolate was used as money.

Greed-to-Grief, No. 22

Was it really The Miracle on the Hudson?

Key Takeaways

Things I think about

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