Post to the Host:
I am a retired flight attendant — 41 years with Delta Airlines. Tonight your tribute to the entire crew of the USAirways flight who landed in the Hudson River was wonderful. Thank you for recognizing the ENTIRE crew!! The captain was, of course, a hero, but he was not alone — his first officer had to have been working as hard as he was — You are the first person I have heard mention his name (much less, write a song about it!)

As a flight attendant, I do appreciate the tribute to those ladies, but the real heroism was in the cockpit!

Thanks to the five crew members, and to you for your tribute.

Sarah N.
Williamson, GA

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I wrote the song (lyrics | listen | download mp3) on the p*** from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Louisville last Friday because I was taken with the name of the pilot, Chessley B. Sullenberger III, which struck me as a cartoonish name you'd attach to a guy in a top hat and spats. The Third at the end of his name opens the door to lots of rhymes — bird, occurred, onward, and so forth — and so I dashed off the song, which also celebrates his great presence of mind in a pinch, not that it was Heroic but that it was sort of Typical and what pilots are trained for. Right? So I rehearsed the song Friday with the band and noticed that I'd singled out one guy and there were others involved and the first officer Jeffrey Skiles also had a rhymeable name and so did the flight attendants, Donna Dent, Sheila Dail, and Doreen Welsh. So there you are. I was unprepared, though, for the huge reaction of the audience in the Palace Theater in Louisville. They just LOVED that song from the first line. Not a great song but it touched a deep chord, and there's the secret of songwriting, ma'am. Just be in the right place at the right time and any fool can write a song. But it takes years of training and mental discipline to be able to set a powerless Airbus down on the Hudson. And then he was the last to leave the p***. He walked through hip-deep water all the way to the tail to make sure everybody was out. To us passengers, that seems so utterly classy. Wow. I'm flying all week this week, Richmond, Vero Beach, D.C., Ohio, Seattle, Duluth, and I look at you airline people a little differently now.