Retired airline Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, famous for safely landing U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in 2009 after a bird strike, says that his ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s disease is his “last flight.”
Mr. Sullenberger and his wife spoke to ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
The former pilot, who retired in 2010, compared his famous landing to grappling with the disease, saying, “We had to devise a plan, execute that plan flawlessly for the first time, never having done it before, and save every life in 208 seconds. So I think we’re doing the same thing here. We’re focusing clearly on the highest priority items first.”
Mr. Sullenberger first disclosed his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in a post on his website in July, writing at the time that “it is my hope that by sharing this, other families living in the shadows with this disease will feel they too can step forward.”
He also told ABC that, though he grappled with questions of why this happened to him, “if this has to be my last flight, I’m going to go out using full afterburner.”
On Thursday, Mr. Sullenberger will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in recognition of the “Miracle on the Hudson” and his flight safety advocacy in the years since.
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