Chesley Sullenberger: A Modern Hero

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Chesley Sullenberger was born in Denison, Texas on January 23, 1951. He is a hero in many ways. A modern hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities such as selflessness, patience, and so on (Merriam Webster dictionary). Chesley, known as “Sully”, is a great example of a hero. He demonstrated how he was courageous, determined, and intelligent when he was under tremendous pressure with little time to think.
To begin with, Sully is a courageous man in many ways. He served as a fighter pilot for the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 1980. In addition to that, he was a flight leader and a training officer as well. Sully also attained the rank of captain while building up his experience overseas. "Sullenberger was the mission commander for Red Flag exercises, in which pilots receive advanced aerial combat training....." (Biography.com). He also taught other pilots to fly. …show more content…

Sullenberger was a modern pilot and built his knowledge on routines. Hundreds of thousands of hours had been spent in analyzing every possible eventuality, taking the risk factors away and mapping out what to do on the rare occasion when something does go wrong. On January 15, 2009, Chesley B. Sullenberger III was following his routine. He reported for work at LaGuardia Airport at the appointed hour. He reviewed the standard preflight data: weight and balance figures, the amount of fuel needed to get to Charlotte, North Carolina, etc. A few seconds before 3:25 p.m., the tower cleared US Airways Flight 1549 for takeoff. It looked to be a normal flight until the plane hit a flock of birds. That is when Sully became a

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