Branson offers double pay to miracle pilot to move to Virgin

Updated on: 03 February,2009 08:23 AM IST |
London |

Chesley Sullenberger had crashlanded a US Airways flight in in New York's Hudson river, saving the lives of 155 passengers on board

Chesley Sullenberger had crashlanded a US Airways flight in in New York's Hudson river, saving the lives of 155 passengers on board

It hasn't taken Sir Richard Branson long to cash in on the fame of Chesley Sullenberger, the US pilot who saved his 155 passengers' lives after performing a crash landing in the Hudson River in New York last month.

The tycoon boasts, "We'll make him the best-paid pilot at Virgin we'll give him double the salary of anybody else. He can also become one of the astronauts in my intergalactic spaceship company. The man can write his own ticket for me."

Branson added, "Every single thing he could have done right, he did right from the second he made that decision not to go to that local airport, to put the plane down in the water, to the way he looked after everybody."

When he heard about Branson's offer, Sullenberger (57) said, "That's amazing." Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot who currently earns around u00a395,000 (Rs 67 lakh) a year, has been inundated with offers. "I will be happy to entertain all the things that are coming my way," he says.

The pilot's heroic actions earned him telephone calls from US President Barack Obama, who invited him to his January 20 inauguration and offered to fly him on Air Force One.

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