Title:
Hero Pilot Now Turns to Stopping a Descent in New
Pilots
Description: This is
a VOA Special English General News Report.
See text below
Text:
Pilot Chesley Sullenberger is known for his heroic
actions in early 2009. He acted when his airplane
struck birds and both engines failed just after it
left an airport in New York.
AIR CONTROLLER: "Okay, which runway would you like
at Teterboro?"
FLIGHT 1549: "We're gonna be in the Hudson."
Sullenberger decided where and how to land his US
Airways plane.
CHESLEY SULLENBERGER: "We only had 208 seconds from
the time we hit the birds to the time we landed."
Sullenberger brought the plane down in the Hudson
River. His quick thinking saved everyone on the
aircraft.
CHESLEY SULLENBERGER: "For everyone on the airplane
and our families, that event changed our lives
instantly, completely, and if not forever, for a
very long time."
Since the landing, Chesley Sullenberger and his
co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, have received many awards. In
November, Sullenberger was at Purdue University in
Indiana. He received the Neil Armstrong Medal of
Excellence from the first man to walk on the moon.
NEIL ARMSTRONG: "A fellow member of the
pilots-who-land-in-strange-places club. "
The man called Sully retired from US Airways in
2010. Being famous gave him a chance to do other
things.
CHESLEY SULLENBERGER: "This notoriety, this
attention, has given me a greater voice to have a
chance to make a difference about things I've cared
about for many years. Aviation safety. The state of
the airline piloting profession. And, of course, the
future of aviation in this country."
Now, Sullenberger heads a program for the
Experimental Aircraft Association.
CHESLEY SULLENBERGER: "Young Eagles is a program of
volunteers who give young people who are interested
in aviation a first flight. It's a chance to ignite
their passion, a chance to provide for the future of
aviation."
His involvement comes during a time of changes in
the airline industry. Wages for pilots and crews are
down as a result of competition among low cost
carriers. Chesley Sullenberger says many young
people have lost interest in flying.
CHESLEY SULLENBERGER: "The number of student pilot
starts, that is the number of people who begin to
learn to fly, has decreased in the last number of
years substantially. What we're trying to do is
arrest that descent and to renew people's interest
in aviation as a possibility for creation or for a
profession."
Sullenberger hopes the example he and his crew set
on the Hudson River will fuel interest in aviation.
And he wants to make sure that airline passengers
will have skilled, experienced crews in the future.
I'm Steve Ember.
Hi. I
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the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
