President Biden announced the nomination of Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger to the ambassador-level position of U.S. representative to ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization.
Sullenberger is best known, of course, as the pilot of US Airways flight 1549 which went down in a ditching in the Hudson River after a double bird strike. He was played by Tom Hanks in the eponymous film – the movie as a whole wasn’t very good but the entire thing was worth it for the flight sequence.
Captain Sully will be Chief of Mission and Representative of the U.S. on the ICAO Council. It is the U.N. agency dealing with navigation, safety, and accident investigation created in 1947 as a result of the Chicago Convention. Currently 192 of the 193 U.N. member countries are part of ICAO – the only exception is Lichtenstein, which doesn’t have an international airport. The Cook Islands, which are otherwise associated with New Zealand, are an ICAO member.
Hardly apolitical, ICAO blocked journalists and Congressional staff last year on Twitter who mentioned Taiwan’s exclusion from ICAO safety and health bulletins as a result of pressure from China. (Taiwan was able to take part in an ICAO Assembly for the first time in 2013 – under the name ‘Chinese Taipei – but hasn’t been invited back because of China.)
Sullenberger has been a critic of the FAA as insufficiently regulatory, and has blamed lax oversight of Boeing for the crashes of 737 MAX aircraft.
A Republican for most of his life, he switched his voting registration to Democrat in 2019. He endorsed Joe Biden for President in February 2020. This past fall he created a commercial with the Lincoln Project tying his experience with US Airways 1549 to his opposition to Donald Trump’s re-election.
Sully may have saved his passengers but he has thrown his people under the bus by selling his soul to the devil. He seems to be happy supporting a party that pushes anti white hatred and thinks government should own our lives instead of protecting our freedom (from speech to religion to association). He should have retired gracefully instead of betraying the public for a position. Every good thing he did with the flight is erased with his betrayal of the rational public. Shame on him.
@Jackson Waterson
OK, boomer…
He’ll fit right in with the CEO’s of the major carriers.
BTW it’s Chesley.
The difference between Sully and most Republicans in Congress is that he’s willing to call out a psychotic liar when he sees one. Trump has betrayed everyone who ever trusted him, his bankers, his wives, his contractors, his Cabinet members, even his vice president. Yet there are people in power who think they can use him. Apparently they never read “Frankenstein,” where the monster turns on its creator, and Trump will do that again; he seems to hate the world. It doesn’t take much to see through this angry little boy with a box of matches. But Sully is braver than many public figures by standing up and saying exactly what he is.
Hi Captain. Are you going on the record with your support of the pedophiles (plural) that established the Lincoln Project? Does your support extend to the multiple Lincoln Project board members that knew about the actions of the pedophiles and yet said nothing?
Just curious.
@ ChrisCan
Speaking of institutions made up of pedophiles and pedophile protectors….how about that Catholic church!!!! Who doesn’t like a good shocker in the name of JC
Sully would be last in line to get hired for a major airline today because he is a white male. The political party he represents supports that. Sad how the quest for power “sullies” peoples minds.
@drrichard
You’re 100% right about DT. However, that is not an excuse to support Biden or his anti freedom party. Trump proved himself to be all talk and no action. His policies certainly were preferable to the left’s and he was supportive of free speech/religious freedom/gun rights/economic freedom/good immigration policy in words (he was inept at being a chief executive and implementing his words. He was a clown. He has low cognitive intelligence but high emotional intelligence. I think he has cognitive impairment since 2000 like Biden has). That’s better than supporting someone who is anti freedom and promotes a disastrous social/immigration/demographic policy. Certainly, it’s sensible to question the GOP platform but supporting the Dems is guaranteed extinction of freedom. If you don’t want to endorse DT or the neo-con RINO GOP that only cares about taxes and doesn’t fight for freedom/doesn’t call out the push for diversity for what it is (less white people and disenfranchising/subjugating whites-Christians)/doesn’t realize cops enforce leftist laws/doesn’t realize the war on drugs is government telling us what we can’t do to our own bodies, fine. Endorsing Biden and the Dems is not a rational alternative, however.
Good man & a good captain!
Saved many lives from untimely demise including his.
When did someone’s party affiliation become the prime qualification to serve? Captain Sullenberger seems to be eminently qualified to fill the ambassador-level position of U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Always a good post when I can start my day with a coffee and laugh from comments by @Jackson Waterson. Ok, I don’t really read his full rants, but they do get me laughing.
So many self-hating Whites in the comments section. Loving it. Proves the point. Enjoy the virtue signaling as you get replaced.
Racists are the self-hating, hyper-insecure characters in oversized bodies for their “maturity” level — characters seeking “security” in tribalism because of their pathetic lack of confidence and self-esteem as an individual and in their own personal capabilities and capability for personal achievements.
Humanity is best served by marginalizing and naturally replacing the racists with smarter stock that doesn’t need and wear racism/tribalism as a baby blanket.
Since the US provides a large portion of funding for this UN entity I hope he can make an impact there.
@Radio “When did someone’s party affiliation become the prime qualification to serve?”
Not just party affiliation but whether the person actively campaigned or otherwise supported the winning candidate, and that’s not new this century or even last. Cf. Tammany Hall
Gosh I remember a friend 20 years ago trying to get a job in the administration, she tried to write off her political contributions as “job search expense” (yeah, the IRS doesn’t buy that).
@Jackson Waterson
Boy are you a crybaby whining racist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@GUWonder
He’s right and your anger about what he says proves that.
Political affiliation is not a prime qualification to serve, it is a prime qualification to get hired. As far as Sullenberger’s qualifications for the ICAO post, it’s a good fit. He is obviously a pilot at heart, looks the part and speaks well. As far as his actions flying the airplane, he did the job of a well trained US Air pilot and had an incredible amount of luck with the overall conditions. Of course, I’m biased. Not being an Airbus pilot, if it was a Boeing 737, he would have run the QRH, returned to the airport and landed.
The Lincoln Project.
Hahahahaha
Not the best judgment there, Sully boy.