TOW #20 - Sully

In his autobiography Sully, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III writes about his life leading up to the emergency landing of Flight 1549 in 2009. Sully discusses the ways that these events have affected his life. In the beginning pages of his book, Sully introduces that he has always had a lifelong interest in aviation. He pursued his passion and served as a member of the US Air-Force and a professional commercial pilot. As per the dedication page, “Sully” wrote this autobiography for people that were affected by Flight 1549 as a means of remaining connected, In the beginning as well, he also writes that this book serves as a method of finding what really matters.

To reveal this underlying message, Sullenberger utilizes both spiritual imagery and actual pictures. In the very first chapter, he writes, “In many ways, all my mentors, heroes, and loved ones - those who taught me and encouraged me and saw the possibilities in me - were with me in the cockpit of Flight 1549.  We had lost both engines.  It was a dire situation, but there were lessons people had instilled in me that served me well.  Mr. Cook’s lessons were a part of what guided me on that five-minute flight. He was the consummate stick-and-rudder man, and that day over New York was certainly a stick-and-rudder day” (Sullenberger 15). Sully uses this spiritual connection with Mr. Cook as a way to connect with the people that were affected by Flight 1539.  He also shows just how important flying was to him. He wants the reader to understand just how hard that situation was, and just how hard he tried to save all of those people. Later in the book, Sullenberger reveals actual pictures of major events that took place in his life (Sullenberger 130). These pictures help show what Sullenberger actually values in his own life.  The inclusion of these specific pictures is an attempt at connecting with the audience by opening up in hopes that it will cause the reader to understand what they value in their own life.

All in all, I believed Sullenberger successfully and effectively achieved his purpose in completely connecting with audience with both spiritual connections and picture connections.  I cannot wait to finish the book!