In “Sully”, Clint Eastwood stages the true story of the miracle landing of an Airbus A320 on the Hudson in New York. A situation he experienced in the 1950s, when he was a young soldier.
Sully: miracle on the Hudson
Released in French theaters in November 2016, Sully directed by Clint Eastwood is based on an incredible true story. Thus, the film tells how, in 2009, Commander Sully Sullenberg saved the lives of 155 passengers on US Airways flight 1549. Portrayed in the film by Tom Hanks, this seasoned pilot has indeed accomplished a small miracle by landing an Airbus. A320 in the Hudson, New York.
In fact, just after take-off, birds (Canada geese) collided with the plane, and the two engines fail. Not being high enough, it is impossible for the pilot to consider an emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport. He therefore decides to land the plane in the middle of the Hudson River, just in front of Manhattan. Clint Eastwood recreated this amazing scene in Sully.
Clint Eastwood in the front row
Clint Eastwood was the perfect director to stage Sully’s landing. For his talent, of course, but also because he was confronted with a similar situation in her youth.
Indeed, in the 1950s, when he was a young soldier, Eastwood survived a plane crash.
He was coming back from his parents in Seattle and had to go to Ford Ord in California. He had to find a plane at all costs, and he ended up in a WWII bomber. But everything went wrong. In 2015, he said:
Back then, it was easy to find a free flight for a soldier. So I dug up this old WW2 plane. But it was a disaster. We had no radio, no oxygen, and the plane eventually ran out of fuel in the Point Reyes area in California and plunged into the ocean. So I had to swim several kilometers. It was October or November, the water was very cold. I thought at that point that 21 years old was too young to die.
A newspaper clipping from the time even mentions this accident:
An experience that helped him stage the crash sequence in Sully.
