Thu, Jan 15, 2009
Reports Confirm The Captain Is SRM Founder Chesley B. "Sully"
Sullenberger, III
Here's a guy who may never have to pick up a bar tab ever
again. His nickname is "Sully" and he is reportedly the Captain of
the US Airways A320 that went down Thursday in near-freezing
waters just off LaGuardia International Airport, shortly after
departure.
Fate may not have been able to pick a better flyer for this
emergency as Captain Sullenberger is a highly regarded aviator with
extensive experience, and is also the President & CEO of Safety
Reliability Methods, Inc. SRM is "a consulting firm that provides
expert solutions to complex problems involving safety, high
performance and high reliability."
Sullenberger's web site lists him only as a "captain for a major
US airline with over 40 years of flying experience." It also
mentions that he is a former US Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot, who
has served as an instructor and Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)
safety chairman, accident investigator and national technical
committee member.
He has participated in several USAF and National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB) accident investigations. His ALPA safety work
led to the development of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Advisory Circular. Working with National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) scientists, he coauthored a paper on error
inducing contexts in aviation. He was instrumental in the
development and implementation of the Crew Resource Management
(CRM) course used at his airline and has taught the course to
hundreds of his colleagues. Sully is a graduate of the U.S. Air
Force Academy (B.S.), Purdue University (M.S.) and the University
of Northern Colorado (M.A.). He was a speaker on two panels at the
High Reliability Organizations (HRO) 2007 International Conference
in Deauville, France May 29-31, 2007. He was recently named a
Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.
Several passengers say the Captain walked up and down
the length of the aisle before abandoning it to rescue personnel...
and the freezing Hudson River... to make sure everyone made it out
OK.
Captain Sullenberger, wherever you are... if all is at it
appears, the first round is on us. It looks like you deserve
it.
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