Capt. Sullenberger Retiring

As I was sitting down to write my first post a few minutes ago, I read that Capt. Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger is retiring, along with flight attendant Doreen Welsh. As everyone knows by now, Sully was the USAirways pilot who safely landed his disabled Airbus in the Hudson in January 2009, making America feel good for the first time in a long time. Ms. Welsh was at the back of the plane and suffered a serious leg gash as she tried to shepherd panicked passengers toward the escape doors in the front. As someone who flies weekly between my house and my workplace, often on USAirways, I've come to admire airline crews for cheerfully putting up with long hours, pay and pension cuts, job insecurity, grumpy and disobedient passengers, and a work environment that leaves no room for error. The USAirways crew and New York ground controllers on January 15, 2009, embody what this blog is about: ordinary people called to unlikely action who leave our world a better place. A tip of the hat to Capt. Sullenberger and Flight Attendant Welsh, their fellow crew members and all the folks who do such a good job taking care of us in the air.