WASHINGTON — Losing thrust in both engines but still managing to land an airliner full of people in the Hudson River without the loss of a single life is plenty dramatic. But the drama in “Sully,” the movie about the “Miracle on the Hudson” ditching of US Airways Flight 1549, doesn’t stop there.
And that’s a problem, say the former government accident investigators involved in the real-life investigation into the 2009 accident. The public, as well as pilots and others in the aviation industry, who see the film may get the wrong impression that investigators were trying to smear the pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, they said.
“We’re not the KGB. We’re not the Gestapo,” said Robert Benzon, who led the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation. “We’re the guys with the white hats on.”
The film, scheduled for release in theaters on Friday, portrays investigators as more like prosecutors looking for any excuse to blame Sullenberger for the mishap.