Pilot’s induction comes two months after Alzheimer’s disclosure
Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, the pilot who guided a disabled US Airways passenger jet to a water landing on the Hudson River in January 2009 with no loss of life, has been inducted into the US National Aviation Hall of Fame. The 75-year-old former US Air Force pilot was recognized during a ceremony Thursday in Washington, DC, 17 years after the event that became known as the Miracle on the Hudson.
Sullenberger participated in the ceremony remotely by video. In his remarks, he congratulated the other members of the 2026 class — which includes NASA astronauts and aviation researchers — saying: “I want to congratulate the other [inductees] on lifetimes of accomplishments. And I thank you for the honor of enshrinement in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.” He acknowledged that the events of 2009, which became the basis of a Tom Hanks film, played a major role in his enshrinement, but he emphasized that his career extended well beyond that single flight. “My career was much more than one flight,” Sullenberger said. “From a very young age, I knew I wanted to fly airplanes. That was the beginning of a lifetime following that dream. I was so fortunate to spend an entire working lifetime doing something I loved.”
Sullenberger was at the controls of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. The aircraft had departed New York City’s LaGuardia airport bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, carrying 150 passengers and five crew members. Shortly after takeoff, the plane struck a flock of birds, causing a total loss of thrust from both engines. Realizing the aircraft could not return to LaGuardia, Sullenberger guided it to a water landing on the Hudson. All 155 people aboard survived.
Two months before the induction, Sullenberger publicly disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In a statement at the time, he said the diagnosis had given him “another way to think about public service” and expressed hope that by sharing his experience, other families “living in the shadows with this disease” would feel able to step forward. “This new phase of my life has challenged what it means to be of service,” Sullenberger said at the time. “And the answer is to speak up. It is my hope that by sharing this, other families living in the shadows with this disease will feel they too can step forward.”
In an interview broadcast Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Sullenberger described his reaction to learning of the diagnosis: “all those emotions, the shock, the anger, why me?” “We’re part of this community who are trying to make the best of a bad situation,” he added.
His wife, Lorrie Sullenberger, who also appeared on the program, framed the disease as something to be discussed openly. “This is a disease — not a character flaw,” she said. “I think we need to talk about it more openly, and maybe other people can do the same.”
According to figures from the Alzheimer’s Association, about 7.4 million Americans age 65 or older are living with clinical Alzheimer’s dementia. Roughly three out of four people living with the disease are 75 or older — the same age cohort as Sullenberger.