Highest Duty was written by pilots Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles. It was their autobiographical account of "The Miracle on the Hudson." We watched it on the news. They lived it in the cockpit. Clint Eastwood and Todd Komarnicki brought the story to life on the big screen in the 2016 movie, "Sully."
My little brother, Matt, rarely recommends a movie, but when he does, I watch it. He is a fan of Eastwood movies because in this season of life, every story Clint Eastwood wants to tell is a passion project of one sort or another. "Sully" falls into that category.
What seemed like an ordinary day, turned into something the nation will never forget. LaGaurdia Airport is busy all of the time. The airport sends and receives "souls" everyday. As I was writing this, I learned that the Coast Guard uses the phrase, "How many souls on board?" (I love that! It is so accurate.)
When a flock of Canadian geese hit the plane, they lost both engines. Sully recalled that the cockpit was quiet in the crisis. The engines were not whirling. There was zero thrust. They slipped into all of their shared experience and rolled into crisis mode to solve the problem. They had 155 souls to save.
Sullivan graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1973. He had the best military training and many hours in flight. Following orders, rules, and regulations was in his training. If the people lived or died that day, it would be his name that people would remember. Every calculation and decision was crucial. They only had minutes.
The tower wanted them to head for an airport. He couldn't do it. In his gut he knew their best chance for survival was to land that plane on the Hudson River. Jeff supported him. They went to work with the weight of 155 souls pressing down on their chests, not to mention figuring out how to land that plane on water. Crazy? So crazy it worked.
As Captain, he was the last one off that plane before it sank. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when they are trying to do a physical on him and all he wants to know is if all 155 souls have been accounted for. Tom Hanks plays the part with so much emotion. The moment he finally knows they are all alive is one of the biggest of the moments, in my opinion. His relief is tangible. No one was lost.
My other favorite moment is when Sully addresses the NTSB at his hearing. They would be judging him for his decisions that day and for defying orders, "Can we get serious, now? ... you still have not taken into account the human factor. " Retrospectively, they were going to make decisions about his career without ever walking in his shoes or taking into account the human factor.
The weight of a soul is barely measurable on human scales but to God, each one is precious. He longs for each one to return to Him. Jesus took on the weight of all our sins and carried them to the cross so countless souls could be saved.
"We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” -Acts 15:11
The date of the emergency landing was January 15, 2009, which I did not know when I started this post. 155 souls saved.
Coincidence? Probably not. You decide.
Sully and Jeff were not alone in the cockpit that day. Neither were the rescue teams, on the ground and in the water, who orchestrated the rescue without losing a single life.
Today, I am grateful for soul counting.
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