The Pilot lives in a town not far from me....
Danville plans hero's welcome for pilot
By Matt O'Brien
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 01/19/2009 10:20:42 AM PST
Updated: 01/19/2009 11:33:15 AM PST
DANVILLE — Town officials plan on hosting a downtown Danville welcome back party Saturday for celebrated pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenburger III, said Mayor Newell Arnerich.
Sullenberger steered a US Airways jet into the Hudson River on Thursday after the plane reportedly struck a flock of geese, crippling its engines.
The safe landing and rescue of all 155 passengers and crew attracted international attention to the Danville pilot and an invitation to the Tuesday inauguration of incoming President Barack Obama. The pilot's wife, Lorraine, and their two daughters are scheduled to join him at the inauguration ceremonies.
When they return home later this week, and after they have a moment to relax, town officials said they want to have a party for the family in the Old Town area. Plans for the community celebration have not been finalized.
Sullenberger has had a busy schedule since the Thursday water landing, spending much of Saturday recounting what happened to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, which examines the causes of all aircraft accidents.
The pilot was scheduled to make his first public interview on The Today Show this morning, but host Matt Lauer told viewers that the appearance was postponed.
The U.S. Airline Pilots Association, of which Sullenberger is a member, wrote a letter to the Sullenberger family's newly hired spokesman asking the family to halt all media activities for the time being.
Stephen Bradford, the union's president, wrote that the association has an "interested party" status with the national transportation board that allows it to participate in the investigation.
"If the NTSB perceives that we are in any way compromising the objectivity of the investigation by innocuously releasing information to the media, our status will be rescinded and we will be unable to help determine the causal factors leading up to this very positive and well-documented outcome," Bradford wrote.