Pilot Gains Fame for Safely Guiding Emergency Landing

A regular face at the Haas School of Business' Center for Catastrophic Risk Management has attracted national media attention after guiding a commercial plane to an emergency landing in the Hudson River last week.

Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, guided his US Airways Airbus A320 to safety after the craft encountered engine problems following a collision with a flock of birds, international media outlets reported.

"He deserves to be seen as the hero that he is portrayed as being," said Center for Catastrophic Risk Management Co-Director Karlene Roberts. "He used the skills that he was trained in, (so) that he could keep the passengers safe."

Roberts said for the last two years, Sullenberger has applied his experience in the aviation industry to the center's research into risk mitigation in catastrophic situations.

Sullenberger also founded the Danville-based Safety Reliability Methods, Inc., which utilizes his experience in aeronautical safety for application to other industrial fields.

His newfound celebrity has not gone unnoticed in Berkeley, where many praise him as an excellent example of leadership in a time of crisis.

"He was able to do it in a controlled manner," said Noah Smith of Dublin, Ireland, who is visiting Berkeley.

Sullenberger, like the other members of his crew, has declined to be interviewed by the news media until an investigation into the engine malfunction is further under way, according to a US Airways press release.

Yet news of the emergency landing continues to attract attention.

"What he did was phenomenal," said Martin St. John, who works in a plant nursery in Berkeley. "It was an indication of what you're supposed to do ... What you can control, you control."