been watching the news . I 've heard Sully say to people , ` It 's rare for an airline pilot to have an incident in their career , ' '' said Lori Sullenberger of Danville , California . `` When he called me he said , ` There 's been an accident . ' At first I thought it was something minor , but then he told me the circumstances and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school . '' US Airways said all 155 passengers and crew are alive and safely off the plane . The crash-landing has also earned the former fighter pilot and private safety consultant accolades from state and government officials . New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg commended the pilot for not leaving the plane without checking to make sure every passenger had been evacuated . `` It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out , '' Bloomberg said at a press conference Thursday . `` I had a long conversation with the pilot . He walked the plane twice after
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Passengers on the US Airways flight that crash-landed into the Hudson River Thursday afternoon praised the actions and courage of the pilot , a safety consultant with 40 years of experience in the aviation industry . Chesley B. `` Sully '' Sullenberger , a former Air Force fighter pilot , has been with US Airways since 1980 . Sources tell CNN that Chesley B. `` Sully '' Sullenberger was piloting US Airways flight 1549 from New York 's LaGuardia airport to Charlotte , North Carolina , when at least one of the plane 's engines failed . Passenger Jeff Kolodjay offered `` kudos '' to Sullenberger for a landing that minimized damage to the aircraft and its 155 passengers and crew . `` All of a sudden the captain came on and he told us to brace ourselves and probably brace ourselves pretty hard . But he did an amazing job -- kudos to him on that landing , '' said Kolodjay , who was sitting in seat 22A . Sullenberger 's wife told CNN that she was stunned to hear the news from her husband after it was all over . `` I had n't