US Airways 'miracle' pilot: Inauguration

By Mark Silva

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, hailed as the hero of "the miracle on the Hudson,'' plans to accept President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration invitation.

Obama has invited the pilot who ditched a U.S. Airways flight in the Hudson River last week after a reported bird-strike of the airliner take-off from La Guardia - saving the lives of all of the passengers and crew aboard the downed Airbus - to attend his swearing-in outside the Capitol at noon Tuesday.

So Sullenberger will see two hero's welcomings - the president-elect's inaugural gala and his own. The mayor of the pilot's home town, Danville, Calif., is planning a welcoming ceremony for him. Mayor Newell Arnerich says the pilot's wife, Lorraine, has told city officials that the family was bound for Washington on Sunday - they still had not seen the pilot since the accident.

Danville has planned a celebration Saturday. It may not be as big as the president-elect's inauguration, but a U.S. Air Force Color Guard and flyover are pla nned for Sullenberger, an honored aviator since his days at the Air Force Academy.

Obama, who visited with several wounded war veterans at the Walter Reed Army hospital today, invoked Sullenberger's name on the way out as someone who was merely doing his job when he safely splash-landed his jet in the Hudson River.

by Mark Silva

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, hailed as the hero of "the miracle on the Hudson,'' plans to accept President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration invitation.

Obama has invited the pilot who ditched a U.S. Airways flight in the Hudson River last week after a reported bird-strike of the airliner following take-off from La Guardia - saving the lives of all of the passengers and crew aboard the downed Airbus - to attend his swearing-in outside the Capitol at noon Tuesday.

So Sullenberger will see two hero's welcomings - the president-elect's inaugural gala and his own. The mayor of the pilot's home town, Danville, Calif., is planning a welcoming ceremony for him. Mayor Newell Arnerich says the pilot's wife, Lorraine, has told city officials that the family was bound for Washington on Sunday - they still had not seen the pilot since the accident.

Danville has planned a celebration Saturday. It may not be as big as the president-elect's inauguration, but a U.S. Air Force Color Guard and flyover are pla nned for Sullenberger, an honored aviator since his days at the Air Force Academy.