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Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the Danville pilot known for safely landing a disabled US Airways jet in the Hudson River in 2009, rode along with the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels Wednesday.

On his website, www.sullysullenberger.com, the famed pilot wrote earlier this week that he had been invited to take a ride as a passenger in a Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet to help kick off the annual Fleet Week celebration in San Francisco.

"As you can imagine, I jumped at the chance," he wrote.

Sullenberger said he was joined at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday by youths who are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program, who will get to meet Blue Angels pilots.

Sullenberger saved the lives of all 155 people on board US Airways Flight 1549 on Jan, 15, 2009, after a flock of birds disabled the plane's
engines, forcing him to land the plane in the water.

He was named co-chair of the Young Eagles program along with his co-pilot on the 2009 flight.

He said on his public Facebook page that he has not flown in a fighter jet since 1979, calling the fly-along one of the "opportunities that
thrill me as though I were a boy again."

The Blue Angels will be rehearsing this week prior to air shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday over San Francisco and the Bay.

"As a former U.S. Air Force pilot, I have great respect for the other branches of the U.S. Military," he wrote. "The Blue Angels are an elite group of officers who have earned the right to represent the U.S Navy and Marine Corps as members of its famous Demonstration Squadron."

— Bay City News Service

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