Pilot’s wife: “We are very proud of Dad.”

Lorrie Sullenberger speaks to reporters about her husband's heroic Hudson River airplane landing.

When a woman steps outside her house to carpool her kids to school, she usually doesn’t have to face a barrage of TV cameras and reporters. But that’s how it was this morning for Lorrie Sullenberger and her daughters when they walked out onto the driveway of their Danville home.

Lorrie Sullenberger is the wife of America’s newest national hero: Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III—the US Airways pilot who saved more than 150 lives when he guided a disabled jet to a safe water landing the Hudson River.

Lorrie Sullenberger, herself a well-known Bay Area fitness expert, stepped forward to the cameras and said she had been advised by US Airways to not say much with an investigation pending into the circumstances surrounding the emergency landing. But, smiling and a bit tearful, she described the international focus on her husband as a bit surreal and explained how she and her daughters were in shock yesterday after first hearing the news in a phone call from her husband. At the same time, they are very proud.

“We are very grateful that everyone is off the airplane safely,” said Lorrie, fighting back tears and flanked by her daughters. “That is what my husband asked me to convey to everyone and of course we are very proud of dad and very shocked.”

Lorrie added that her husband was “feeling better today,” though she hasn’t been able to talk to him much. She also said she’s not surprised by her husband’s ability to have maintained his composure during the landing “He’s very controlled. Very professional. … He’s a pilot’s pilot, and he loves the art of the airplane.”

You can watch Sullenberger’s full interview here.

Lorrie Sullenberger must be pretty controlled and disciplined herself, given that she is a fitness guru with her own unique program, Fit and Fabulous … Outdoors, and is a regularly featured fitness expert on ABC 7’s View from the Bay.  

Meanwhile, Candace Anderson, a member of Danville’s town council and a neighbor of the Sullenbergers, told a local radio station that the town likely will hold a special ceremony to honor Chesley Sullenberger when he returns to the Bay Area. Lorrie Sullenberger said her husband should be coming home in a few days.

UPDATE: Check out Yahoo.com's slideshow, with lots of historic pics of Sully.

Posted at 05:00 PM in Best Of Editor Picks | Permalink