Sully

[Griff Murphey]

I think there is enough interest in aviation on this forum that it's not too far out of bounds to discuss a civilian flying movie here.
It's a good flying movie and shows convincingly the stress that Sully Sullenberger underwent being grilled by the NTSB after the "miracle on the Hudson." They tried to nail him because the aircraft data indicated the left engine was still running but had been throttled back, not destroyed by ingested geese. As well they ran simulations that "proved" the plane could have turned around and made it back to La Guardia. However they did this by giving the people who flew the simulations briefings and practice. What they did was make an immediate turn back to La Guardia the second the bird strikes happened.
By contrast, Sully and his copilot had to assess the damage and deal with all the options, as well as talk to ATC. Who by the way had a hard time believing he had lost both engines.
When the NTSB made the simulator pilots wait 35 seconds to turn... A minimum amount of time to think about it, the very best they could do was hit the approach lights, or fireball into buildings. The final day of the hearing, the left engine was recovered autopsied having lost half of its turbine blades and totally unable to provide any thrust.
Sully is shown in his USAF days flying an F-4 with another one in company and I am not sure if it's good cgi or if they managed it fire up some old QF-4's to show how he handled a flight control failure.
All in all he emerges as a true hero, a self effacing regular guy whose experience, judgement, and skill saved 155 lives including his own.
The crash is shown in pieces and flashbacks and flash-forwards. Very Clint Eastwood direction! Also you will learn more about the ferry boats and scuba cops that saved everyone including two people who got off the airplane into the water. Highly recommended to anyone interested in aviation.

[m1ashooter]

The water men of New York harbor are top notice guys. Remember how they evaced Manhattan Island on 9/11. Thanks for the review. The flight crew were good sticks that day.

[bruce]

Admire Sully for saving the lives of all aboard. Understand why the matter was investigated. Were they out to get Sully? Don't know. Can't see Hollywood presenting the matter in a straight forward honest manner. Have to build up the drama, etc. Otherwise... movie would be a flop at the box office. Probably the same treatment dished out to anyone who had a similar accident. Happily Sully was alive to see himself/crew exonerated. In fact, happy ending for all. Cool. Sincerely. bruce.

[Griff Murphey]

Sully actually appears after the credits roll, in a few minutes of footage shot at a reunion of all of the survivors at the Carolina Air Museum which holds the salvaged A-320. I doubt if he would have appeared in the movie unless he totally signed off on it 100 percent.

[tmark]

I'm glad Tom Hanks as Sully gave credit to so many others for the miracle on the Hudson. I think his co-pilot deserved more recognition than was shown.

[jgaynor]

Excellent movie!

[p246]

Thanks for the review...Its on my list.

[Guamsst]

If Sully could have waited 15 more seconds and still landed with room to spare, it doesn't really matter. He didn't have time to run the simulator before deciding what to do. He had to figure out exactly what was going on, judge the distance, guess his glide and take time to put his head between his knees and kiss his butt goodbye. He had one shot at it so he picked the softest terrain with no buildings, that he was sure he could make. It's kind of like guessing if you can make it to the next gas station but you don't know how many miles you have left. It doesn't matter if you know what your MPG is and how many gallons you have left. He knew his air speed and altitude. He didn't have a gauge showing his glide distance and distance back to the airport. Every second he wasted figuring out if he could make it, doubled the extra distance he had to glide after the engines failed.