Chesley Sullenberger

Became famous as a captain for US Airways after successfully ditching an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. His aircraft hit a flock of geese after takeoff, damaging the engines and forcing him to land in the water. All passengers and crew survived.

I felt it was like the best of both worlds. I could use my experience, I could look out the window and make a decision about where we were going to go, while he [the first officer] was continuing his effort to restart the engines and hoping that we wouldn't have to land some place other than a runway. He was valiantly trying until the last moment to get the engines started again. [interview in Air & Space Smithsonian, on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009. Interview was 34 days after successfully guiding and leading the falling US Airways' Flight 1549 into the Hudson River on Thursday, January 15th, 2009]