Community Corner
Sully's Miracle Plane Passes Through Harford County
Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III's famed plane traveled through Maryland on Tuesday en route to North Carolina.
Shawn Dorsch didn’t realize how many people were tracking the famed on its way to the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, NC.
At least not until Monday when an online GPS tracker for the trucking company transporting the plane failed. New Jersey-based J. Supor & Son Trucking & Rigging Co. received more than 540 calls in 30 minutes asking why the plane's southbound trip had stopped, according to Dorsch, president of the aviation museum.
“I’m sure that’s just a fraction of the total number of people that were watching it. I think it just shows the scale of interest,” said Dorsch, who is . “It’s overwhelming. It’s far beyond what I ever thought it would be. I had no idea it would be this level of interest. It really shows how much people think it’s a historic and significant artifact.”
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When Chuck Waters heard the US Airways Flight 1549 plane was coming through Harford County, he drove to Mountain Road overpass above U.S. Interstate 95 on Monday to catch a glimpse.
, delaying its transport across the state until Tuesday.
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“Fortunately I was able to come back and it’s just inspirational,” said Waters, 55, of Forest Hill. “I would probably do it again. I’ll guarantee you that.”
He was part of a group that waited nearly an hour to see the Airbus A320 that Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III and First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles landed on the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009. The plane’s wings are being transported separately.
The caravan is taking such an indirect route that onlookers from New Jersey to North Carolina are being careful not to miss it.
“It was very interesting to see it but it was here and gone so fast,” said Jeanne Kline, 62, of Bel Air.
Dorsch said the plane is being transported at 50 mph on highways. After coming through the Garden State and Delaware earlier this week, it stopped just east of the Susquehanna River on Monday before continuing across Maryland at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The Airbus will stop in West Virginia sometime Tuesday after bypassing the District of Columbia and Virginia because the overpasses are too low. Dorsch expects to reach Charlotte by 10 a.m. Friday after having left New Jersey at the same time last Saturday.
People who saw the images on TV of the plane floating in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of passengers and crew two years ago are still inspired by Sullenberger's skill and nerve.
“For somebody who’s terrified of planes, if I had been on it, I probably wouldn’t have made it,” Parkville resident Jeanne Kline said. “I think it’s marvelous that there was a person flying the plane that saved so many people. [Sully] is such an icon.”
