Today in history:
2009: A few minutes after a bird strike took out one of their engines, US Airways Flight 1549 is safely brought down to a splash landing in the Hudson River by Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger and his flight crew. This act, popularly known as "the Miracle on the Hudson", garnered the entire crew the Master's Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award citation read, "This emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement." It was also described by NTSB board member Kitty Higgins as "the most successful ditching in aviation history."