What My Father Taught Me: Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger

May 29, 2013 4:00 PM Text Size: A . A . A We did lots of things together as father and son. Once he got a boating magazine and found plans for building a very simple plywood dinghy. We built it together one summer, according to plan. We painted it red with a white stripe. It had a small centerboard for a keel and we used a bamboo pole for a mast, and a white cotton bedsheet for the sail. I taught myself to sail that summer.

My father volunteered in early 1941, before Pearl Harbor, and became an officer in the U.S. Navy. As I was growing up, he taught me the responsibility of command: A leader is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the welfare of people under his or her care. That was a deeply felt obligation in his generation.

So when I chose to volunteer for the Air Force during the Vietnam era, I felt it was my generation's turn to do our duty, to serve our country, to serve a cause greater than ourselves. And I felt as an airline captain an intense obligation to make sure I did everything I could to keep everyone I was responsible for from harm. That's an obligation I felt on US Airways Flight 1549.

Yes, we landed that plane despite the fact that we had no thrust, and even though we were over one of the most densely populated and densely developed areas of the planet. But even at that point, it was obvious to me that I should take nothing for granted after. We couldn't have any casualties. So I went to the cabin twice to make sure there was nobody left on board; to make sure we had successfully evacuated. And after the rescue was completed I was still trying to fulfill my professional responsibility and try to account for everyone. It was about 4 hours before I got the word officially that they knew everyone was safe, and only then could I finally relax and know that I'd done all I could, and that my professional responsibility was completed. I think that sense of professional obligation was something that I clearly got from my father.

?As told to Jennings Brown

Previously: What My Father Taught Me: Boing Boing Editor and sci-fi author Cory Doctorow

What My Father Taught Me: NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/what-my-father-taught-me-chesley-sully-sullenberger-15530714?src=rss

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