Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, left. and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles , right, receive standing applause before the start of a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. The news the pilots delivered was not as cheerful. (Photo by Mark Wilson /Getty Images)
by Mark Silva
The "hero of the Hudson'' has suffered pay cuts and loss of a pension on his way to national acclaim, and now he has a warning for the nation:
Chesley "Sully'' Sullenberger, who saved 154 other people and himself when he landed his disabled airliner in the Hudson River, suggests that the airline industry is undermining the development of seasoned pilots such as himself.
Pay and benefit cuts are forcing experienced pilots from their cockpits, Sullenberger told the House aviation subcommittee in a hearing underway today.
The US Airways pilot says his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension terminated. He says cuts that followed airline bankruptcies in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks coupled with the current recession have placed pilots and their families in an untenable financial situation.
Sullenberger, testifying with fellow crew members on the Jan. 15 downing of his bird-slammed plane in the river, saving all 155 people on Flight 1549, said that, without experienced pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."
Comments
Hey, pilots be workin' stiffs, too, so there's no need for them to be excluded. Please extend a warm welcome to The Club of Those to be Shafted.
Posted by: Clutch Cargo | February 24, 2009 11:37 AM
I am disappointed that the hero only seems concerned with the plight of the pilots.
My husband was just laid off after 22+ years as a mechanic with a major carrier. Maintenance is taking a MUCH harder hit than flight crews. Just wait til the planes start falling from the sky due to shoddy/non-existent/outsourced maintenance.
Posted by: Franci | February 24, 2009 12:44 PM
Watch the hero about to be torn down. Speaking to the truth to the powers will quickly bring attacks. If the can't get to him then his family and friends will the targets. It was fine when he was the smiling Captain but now he's getting in the way of their money. So long Sully our a true Hero.
Posted by: Joe | February 24, 2009 1:26 PM
"Sully:' Airlines risking safety with cuts"
Safety cuts that the BushCo Republicans have spent the last eight years making while they were in the process of selling out America for their rich big business cronies.
Posted by: Hey Joe | February 24, 2009 1:29 PM
That airline pilots (and mechanics too) are treated so terribly is indeed tragic....couple this with the fact that air traffic controllers are working under rules forced on them by the Bush administration, are overworked and not receiving pay raises and together this spells disaster in the skies! What will the flying public do when all of our veteran pilots, mechanics, and controllers are long gone??
Posted by: Jenny K | February 24, 2009 4:44 PM
Sully, what a guy. Ya gotta love him!
I have noticed, however, that one entity has been ignored in all the thanks and praise for the successful ditching in the Hudson.
The flight crew has been thanked. The passengers for remaining calm have been thanked. And the Lord has been repeatedly thanked.
But the French engineers at Airbus have not been thanked.
Thank you Airbus for the engineering depth that allowed Sully to dead stick that baby into the river while remaining controllable and intact.
I think Congress should rename French Fries on their menu to 'Airbus Fries'.
What do you think, Swampies!!
Posted by: C.Morrisā | February 24, 2009 8:20 PM
Hey! Here's an idea if you think the pilot flying your plane deserves to be well paid and if you think that ATC that is forced to work 16 hours straight should have more rights. Let's claw back the 4 billion dollars of taxpayer money that was used for wall street bonuses and give it to them. I would say Captain Sullenberger had pretty good performance along with a touch of the hand of God, and he deserves a bonus. Let's see...if the wall street boys think they did such a great job running their companies into the ground, destroying the American economy, and the global economy to boot, and think they deserve oh..121 million dollars for their work....let's take that taxpayer money and give 121 million to old Captain Sully. Or maybe the airline execs will give their next multi-million dollar bonus to these gentlemen. Let's call our congressfolks and see if we can spend our money THAT way! Ha!
Posted by: David | March 2, 2009 10:45 PM