Purdue to toast hero pilot Sullenberger

Purdue University is preparing to toast alumnus Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed a jetliner on the Hudson River last year.

Sullenberger will receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Purdue's college of liberal arts Nov. 12 for his quick-thinking while piloting US Airways Flight 1549 in January 2009 as it took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The plane carrying 155 people was crippled after it struck a flock of geese, but Sullenberger glided it to a landing on the Hudson River and all aboard were rescued.

Sullenberger's visit will include a campus book-signing where he'll sign copies of his book, "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters."


Sullenberger earned a master's degree in industrial psychology from Purdue in 1973.