Jeff Skiles of Oregon, Wisconsin, has retired from American Airlines. Skiles is most widely known as the First Officer on U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in which he and Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger successfully made an emergency landing on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, following a bird strike while flying an Airbus A320-214.
What was to be a routine flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, N.C., nearly turned tragic when about 3 minutes into the flight during their initial climb-out, a flock of Canada geese collided with the aircraft causing both engines to quickly lose power. All 155 passengers and crew onboard evacuated the aircraft safely.
The emergency landing became known as “Miracle on the Hudson” and was later made into a motion picture starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger, and Aaron Eckhart as Skiles. The 2016 film was directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Todd Komarnicki, based on the 2009 autobiography “Highest Duty” by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow.
Sullenberger retired in 2010, but Skiles continued to fly, and following the merger of U.S. Airways and American Airlines in 2013, he transitioned to American, where he most recently flew as a captain on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Skiles’ final flight, American Airlines Flight 87 from London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare, took place on November 17, 2024, coinciding with his 65th birthday the following day.
Shortly after the incident, Skiles took a position with the Experimental Aircraft Association serving as Vice President of Communities & Member Programs, and became cochair of the EAA Young Eagles program with Sullenberger. Skiles now plans to fly charter for Wisconsin Aviation with operations in Madison, Watertown and Juneau, Wisconsin.
Skiles is active in EAA Chapter 431 and the Kelch Aviation Museum in Brodhead, Wisconsin. He owns and flys an Aviat Husky A1-B for fun!
To read more about Jeff Skiles, go to https://midwestflyer.com/?s=skiles