Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in 2009, announced Tuesday, July 14, that he has been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
Sullenberger, 75, shared the news in a statement posted to his personal website, revealing he is being treated by Dr. Gil Rabinovici with UCSF Medical Center. He described Alzheimer's as "the unwanted visitor at the door," a disease his doctor told him "spares no age group and impacts millions of people around the world."
The retired pilot said the diagnosis means "a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don't sleep as well," but that he is "at the beginning of this long journey."
Sullenberger became a household name on January 15, 2009, when he and co-pilot Jeff Skiles guided US Airways Flight 1549 to a controlled landing on the Hudson River after a flock of Canada geese disabled both engines just after takeoff, saving all 155 passengers and crew. The event was quickly dubbed the "Miracle on the Hudson" and turned Sullenberger into a global symbol of calm, split-second heroism.
His story reached an even wider audience in 2016 with the release of "Sully," a biographical drama directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks in the title role. The film brought Sullenberger's split-second decision-making - and the intense NTSB investigation that followed, questioning whether he could have safely returned to the airport instead - to theaters worldwide, cementing his story as one of the most well-known aviation rescues in modern history.
Reflecting on that day, Sullenberger said he has often told people that "courage can be contagious" - and that it helped everyone band together to get off the airplane safely. "Now we need that courage to battle this disease," he wrote. "I am now part of a larger community with many of you, and we will be courageous together."
Sullenberger said he will face this new chapter with his family by his side, including his wife Lorrie and their grandchild, whom he called "a game changer." He joins several other public figures who have shared Alzheimer's diagnoses in recent months, including news anchor Bill Ritter and actor Danny Glover.
