The number one movie is America is Sully, the story of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (and co-pilot Jeff Skiles–who seems to be getting the short-shift in all of this hype) and their landing of a US Airways flight on the Hudson River after double engine failure caused by ingesting a flock of Canada geese during takeoff. I probably won’t go to see the movie, having interviewed Sully a couple of times and getting the story of his experiences first-hand. Hopefully, Tom Hanks nails the cool, calm demeanor of Sullenberger, even in the face of almost impossible odds.
But what is Sully hadn’t been Mr Cool, Calm and Collected in the cockpit? I have a fun little game we can play called “If Sully Was….”
If Sully Was a Bernie Sanders supporter…..The plane would have crashed with him shouting about how Airbus should have put eight engines on that plane and it’s because of their corporate greed the plane is going down.
If Sully Was a Donald Trump supporter….He would have turned the plane back around and went through the flock of birds again to take out as many as he could because HELLO, THOSE ARE CANADA GEESE! WHAT ARE THEY EVEN DOING IN THE UNITED STATES!!
If Sully Was an Islamic terrorist….He would have turned the plane back toward the city and tried to hit as many buildings as he could on the way down.
If Sully Was an animal rights activist….He would have crashed the plane BEFORE hitting the flock of geese because the lives of those beautiful birds are far more important than those of people sitting on a plane.
If Sully Was a Black Live Matter protester…He would insist that the geese had their wings up and were yelling “DON’T FLY INTO ME!!” and never tried to fly into the plane’s path.
If Sully Was a Hillary Clinton supporter….he would insist that he never actually flew the plane. Then he would say that he made a mistake flying into the birds and that he would never do that again. And then he would wonder why everybody keeps making a big deal about this–and let’s just move on.
There are probably hundreds more of these–but time doesn’t permit me to list them all here. So the next time your stuck in boring chit-chat at a gathering, play the “If Sully Was…” game and get everybody riled up!
