Darwin - (Pigs-Might-Fly Mess): "A cheap copycat stunt!" That was Hudson River hero pilot Chesley B Sullenberger's dismissal of an Australian Piper Chieftain pilot's miraculous water landing in Darwin Harbor today.
Pilot Steve Bolle's emergency measure "was hardly of the same heroic caliber" of aerial acrobatics, 'Sully' Sullenberger told reporters.
"And whadabout the geese? There have to be huge flocks of geese in your outboard engines before ya even start to compare the two plane dumps into dangerous waters.
"Maybe the guy's tryin' to muscle in on a Hollywood movie script deal for himself?"
Sully was commenting on the incident involving five passengers enroute to the Northern Territory.
Their plane's engines failed prompting mass goading of the pilot to "do a Sully" and attempt landing in almost two feet of water in Darwin Harbor estuary.
Sullenberger, 69, achieved global hero status after his January feat and has been headhunted by Virgin Airways' Richard Branson.
"Yeah, it's true about Branson," Sully told the press.
"First he offered to double my US Airways salary, then treble it. Then he even offered me free trips on his Virgin Intergalactic space trips.
"Geez, I ain't that stoopid!
"Maybe Steve Bolle would like to take a shot at that one."
