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Sully couldn't have been a better spokesman for Aviation.. I've seen him often, even testifying before Congress. Jeff Skiles , his F/O, but also a Capt that reverted to right seat due to layoffs and seniority, spoke at the EAA meeting at Sonoma Skypark where I often camp.. That's a strong chapter.. Unfortunately, it was a 10 min check list from 3000', and closing all the vent doors making the plane seaworthy was the last item.. Too bad that wasn't a memory item. I think what made it The Miracle on the Hudson wasn't so much the landing as it was the rest of the circumstances that made it happen. The plane was strong enough to hold together, though the landing attitude was important to hold right on, the water was calm so no wing would dig in, and all the rescuers were on the scene in minutes.. An AA Capt friend of mine says their Ops manual requires them to engage the autopilot by 1500' AND if they do anything out of the ordinary, they get a call from the Chief pilot.. These guys are all losing their 'stick and rudder' skills.. Someone said it was lucky Sully was also a glider pilot,..meaning he had current stick and rudder skills, the same as any competent and current light aircraft pilot..Sully was a gentleman giving his crew full credit when all the press did was focus on him.. NOW, once again, many airlines are rethinking their training manuals, just as CRM was a big deal 20 yrs ago, Cockpit Resource Management.. Use your crew... I had no qualms about speaking up.. Some guys appreciated my help, other's had too big an ego where I just kept my mouth shut unless real safety was at hand. (This was other than normal checklists) Hell, a regular airline crew has to be route checked by a check airman so it becomes a milk run. We, as "non-Scheds" would often land at airports for the first time, which is why CRM was so damn important along with an extensive pre-landing briefing.. Southern was the first Civilian AC to land at Kuwait after Desert Storm. (Same with Rock & Roll, a different town every night.. Recall the commuter that didn't cross check their DG to the runway heading and used the short runway killing everyone except the F/O?) The 707 I liked to 'hand fly' up to about 18 K or so, after that as a swept wing airplane, it started to get a little squirrely, reason for an operating Yaw damper at altitude.. If inop, your altitude was restricted. At Brown field in TX with no traffic, I used to win bets just reducing the power to flight idle at 10K and spot landing it.. (the FAA frowns if not spooled up by 1000', but hell, no big deal like in a small plane if you've airspeed and altitude.) In Africa, we had to make a 'combat' approach into Juba Sudan in the C-130.. Since the city was under siege, we had to spiral down from 15 k with a short final.. The good news was, the rebels agreed not to shoot at us if we brought the same amount of food to them in the afternoon.. (only picked up one little hole that went in and out hitting nothing..) So, in the afternoon, the good guys were the bad guys and the bad guys were the good guys.. Catch -22 if I ever saw it.. Should have hired Milo Minderbinder... But when we flew to the rebel camps, we still had to enter through Juba which was still in control by the Gov.. The Gov was Muslim, the rebels were Christian.. I'd file a flight plan which was unfortunately required, as the Gov Mig pilots would be "looking over my shoulder".. I presume they'd use that to their advantage after we offloaded our food at the rebel camps... The weird thing was, I thought the rebel camps had it better than the refuge camps in Juba were we had to 'clear' before leaving the country... After we offloaded, there was no way I could stop about 50+ locals from jumping on the plane with their goats and chickens, so all I could do was tell them to stay in the center of the plane and hang onto the cargo straps.. What a zoo. We landed in one place controlled by the Dinka Tribe.. everyone could have played on the Lakers.. The "jefe" was well over 7' tall wearing nothing but a loin cloth..which meant his thigh was at least 2' long.. I had to look twice, but guess what was sticking out the bottom, and the guy wasn't even hard... I guess those rumors are true.. One place we landed was Wau.. the very next day, the crew decided to use another 100' of runway before turning around and taxied over a tank mine.. It blew the nose up, but the crew got out OK with spinal injuries.. The nose burned back to the cockpit bulkhead and no further. I saw a picture of the plane later, just sitting on it's tail, noting forward of the cockpit bulkhead.. I guess the engines just ran till it ran out of fuel... So back in the US, landing at Indianapolis, the tower requested a 'short approach'. They knew we didn't have pax.. SO, I gave them a combat approach, the rest of the crew saying nothing till after the landing.. It made them very nervous, but then they'd never flown out of the US or at least Africa.