page_title: Chesley Sullenberger
section_title: In popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Chesley Sullenberger / In popular culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Former airline pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger speaks with Marines during his lunch visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Dec. 5. He sat down with Marines from several units at Anderson Hall Dining Facility and spoke about his 2009 emergency water landing and his current work with aviation safety. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Christine Cabalo)
context_page_description: Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III is an American retired Air Force fighter pilot and airline captain. He is best known for his role as pilot in command in the 2009 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan after both engines were disabled by a bird strike; all 155 people aboard survived. Sullenberger is a speaker on aviation safety and has helped develop new protocols for airline safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with first officer Jeffrey Skiles, of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013.
  Sullenberger retired from US Airways after 30 years as a commercial pilot on March 3, 2010. In May of the following year, he was hired by CBS News as an aviation and safety expert.
  Sullenberger is the co-author, with Jeffrey Zaslow, of the New York Times bestseller Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, a memoir of his life and of the events surrounding Flight 1549, published in 2009 by HarperCollins. His second book, Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America's Leaders, was published in May 2012.
context_section_description: The 2016 dramatic feature film Sully was adapted from Sullenberger's memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger and Aaron Eckhart as Skiles, it recreates the events around the Hudson River landing.
  Sullenberger's speech before Congress concerning U.S. civil aviation is featured in Michael Moore's 2009 documentary Capitalism: A Love Story.
  Sullenberger is also referred to in the 2011 romantic comedy film Friends with Benefits. Throughout the film, Justin Timberlake's character repeatedly suggests to people he meets aboard planes that modern airplanes practically fly themselves, and that Sullenberger's feat was less impressive than it was portrayed, an idea for which he encounters incredulity and hostility. Mila Kunis' character is also seen reading Sullenberger's English Wikipedia article.
  The 2010 song "A Real Hero", by French electronica artist College and the band Electric Youth, is about Captain Sullenberger and the Flight 1549 water landing. Frontman Austin Garrick was inspired to write the song by his grandfather, whose reference to Sullenberger as "a real human being and a real hero" became the song's refrain.
  Radio personality Garrison Keillor wrote "Pilot Song: The Ballad of Chesley Sullenberger III" for the January 17, 2009 edition of his radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion.
  Sullenberger appeared as himself in a cameo role in the 2017 film Daddy's Home 2.
  "Hudson River Runway", the March 14, 2011, episode of the TV series Mayday, documents the events around Flight 1549's emergency landing, and contains interviews with several of its real-life participants. Captain Sullenberger is not interviewed in the show, but is portrayed in reenactments by actor Christopher Britton.
  President George H. W. Bush's service dog Sully, who was assigned to Bush in mid-2018 after the death of Bush's wife Barbara, was named after Sullenberger.
  Sully is featured in the pilot of the 2020 Fox cartoon series Duncanville.
caption: Sullenberger in 2014
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