All eyes are on Washington today, but many will remember the crash landing of US Airways 1549 in the Hudson River last week. The number one hero of that flight, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, has been invited to attend today’s inauguration.
But there were many other heroes that day, most notably the crews and boats of NY Waterway ferries. Videos of the rescue operations show ferryboat after ferryboat pulling up to the floating airliner and throwing out life preservers to passengers. A total of 14 boats from the NY Waterway fleet assisted in the operation. Curiously, the captain of the first boat on the scene is named Vince Lombardi.
Janis Krums, a passenger on board a NY Waterway ferry, snapped this photo of US Airways 1549 with her iPhone as the boat approached the plane to rescue passengers, then distributed it via Twitter. (Click for a larger view.)
