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Sully retires ...

Catmando said:
... Sullenberger to Retire"

A bit early retirement, but then he hasn't worked/flown much since the incident.
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Probably too busy on the rubber chicken/lecture circuit to fly anymore -- I see his Lead F/A also retired. :)
 
AJTranny said:
Is the book a good read or is it mostly stuff put out by TV already?
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Good question, but I don't know.

My son gave the book to me for Christmas, but it remains unopened - by me... although my wife just started reading it last weekend. I am just a little tired of all the excessive Sully hype, and I fear the book is more self-aggrandizement for what was a most fortunate but not an extraordinary accomplishment. (For that, see former UAL Captain Al Haynes' accomplishment)

I retired from Sully's airline some time ago. I never knew him personally, but I know many current pilots who still work there that do. I also know that many of their "West" pilots are incredibly and unmercifully critical of Sully. Whether it is deserved or not, I cannot yet say.

Someday, I suppose I will get around to reading his book. :sleep_125
 
Catmando said:
I never knew him personally, but I know many current pilots who still work there that do. I also know that many of their "West" pilots are incredibly and unmercifully critical of Sully. Whether it is deserved or not, I cannot yet say.
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I guess that is what you could call the curse of the famous downed pilot. Many pilots, especially military-types, who became famous because of crashes became heroes in the public's eye yet were criticized by their peers--from Scott O'Grady to Mike Durant (criticized by COL David Hackworth) to David Williams in OIF. Yes, they were only well known because they were shot down. And then the Monday morning quarterbacks come out of the woodwork--well why was he flying there, why couldn't he limp it back to base, why did they land? And then comes the "well I would've done this if I was in that situation."

To those hindsight pilots who analyze a situation from the safety of their lounge chairs and are critical of the pilots I say "shut the F up already." I don't care what you "would've done" because for all we know you would've shat your pants and watched yourself die while you were locked-up on the controls waiting for the circuit breaker on your brain to be reset. Learn from their mistakes and try to not let history repeat itself in your case.

Most of the those critical pilots are simply jealous of the attention and wish that they could write a book and be in the spotlight. Personally, I'd rather be anonymous and never crash.
 
slug said:
I guess that is what you could call the curse of the famous downed pilot. Many pilots, especially military-types, who became famous because of crashes became heroes in the public's eye yet were criticized by their peers--from Scott O'Grady to Mike Durant (criticized by COL David Hackworth) to David Williams in OIF. Yes, they were only well known because they were shot down. And then the Monday morning quarterbacks come out of the woodwork--well why was he flying there, why couldn't he limp it back to base, why did they land? And then comes the "well I would've done this if I was in that situation."

To those hindsight pilots who analyze a situation from the safety of their lounge chairs and are critical of the pilots I say "shut the F up already." I don't care what you "would've done" because for all we know you would've shat your pants and watched yourself die while you were locked-up on the controls waiting for the circuit breaker on your brain to be reset. Learn from their mistakes and try to not let history repeat itself in your case.

Most of the those critical pilots are simply jealous of the attention and wish that they could write a book and be in the spotlight. Personally, I'd rather be anonymous and never crash.
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Your points are well taken. But I have seen pilots crucified in the media when they never deserved it, probably equally as much as I have seen pilots praised in the media when they in fact really had really dicked it up. And everything in between, for that matter. (I've got some stories.)

Pilots unfortunately are quick to do their own accident investigations and armchair quarterbacking. It happens, but should always be private and constrained.

Having said all that, the pilots I refer to have many thousands of hours in the A-320, some are check airmen, and they have impeccable credentials. While I suspect jealousy may be a factor, as is current intra-airline contentious politics, these are experienced and expert pilots who know the aircraft, the systems, the checklists and emergency procedures. And they raise (privately) some very important and intelligent questions regarding this mishap. I won't repeat their speculation here. But the very belated NTSB final report which should have been cut and dried and quick, is now long after Colgan of the approximately the same timeframe. It might be, according to them, very stunning. We can only wait to know for sure.
 
I have a bunch of friends on the "west" side of that airline. I've heard some of the rumblings Cat is refering too, but they respected him for getting it down and everyone out unhurt. The end justifies the means so to speak. But Sully blew it when he tried to use his fame in court during their ongoing merger seniority list battle. It was totally inappropriate and the respect evaporated overnight.

In my opinion, the best thing Sully did that day was make a decision and stick to it. Many less experienced Captains would have hemmed and hawed between airport and river until it was too late for either. Thankfully this happened at a major and not a regional. But any pilot flying for any airline should have been able to make that landing once the decision was made.
 
slug said:
I guess that is what you could call the curse of the famous downed pilot. Many pilots, especially military-types, who became famous because of crashes became heroes in the public's eye yet were criticized by their peers--from Scott O'Grady to Mike Durant (criticized by COL David Hackworth) to David Williams in OIF. Yes, they were only well known because they were shot down. And then the Monday morning quarterbacks come out of the woodwork--well why was he flying there, why couldn't he limp it back to base, why did they land? And then comes the "well I would've done this if I was in that situation."
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This.....okay. But O'Grady and Hackworth were both idiots.
To those hindsight pilots who analyze a situation from the safety of their lounge chairs and are critical of the pilots I say "shut the F up already." I don't care what you "would've done" because for all we know you would've shat your pants and watched yourself die while you were locked-up on the controls waiting for the circuit breaker on your brain to be reset. Learn from their mistakes and try to not let history repeat itself in your case.

Most of the those critical pilots are simply jealous of the attention and wish that they could write a book and be in the spotlight. Personally, I'd rather be anonymous and never crash.
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This...pure bull shit. As A4's said more politely, you're the one who needs to STFU.
 
Catmando said:
But the very belated NTSB final report which should have been cut and dried and quick, is now long after Colgan of the approximately the same timeframe. It might be, according to them, very stunning. We can only wait to know for sure.
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Do you think this might be related to his retirement?
 
slug said:
...became heroes in the public's eye yet were criticized by their peers--from Scott O'Grady ...
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Before Hacker sees this and chimes in, I'll tell you that there is a plethora of criticism in the fighter world on Scott... not just how he handled the shootdown rescue, but in how he handled earlier flying situations, and how he handled things in his personal life after the event.
 
huggyu2 said:
there is a plethora of criticism in the fighter world on Scott... and how he handled things in his personal life after the event.
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To be fair to the pilots in question, I don't think any of us know how we would react if we were instantly thrust into the public spotlight. Just doing an interview with the media gets you enough razzing from your mates. I don't think I could say that it wouldn't change me. Lots of guys probably get divorced, like Mike Durant, some guys just end up dating Miss South Carolina and compete in the Amazing Race (Ron Young).

Criticism in private or for the purpose of learning what not to do is one thing (yes we all do that), but my problem is with guys who criticize these pilots anonymously in a semi-public setting, like say on internet blogs, but don't have the balls to put their name on record and say bluntly "what that guy did was crap". In my opinion that shows a malicious intent to discredit or dishonor a pilot who is probably just as capable as any other pilot, or in my case much more capable than me.

They didn't choose to be famous, but now they are just trying to make the best of their situation, especially if they can no longer fly.
 
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