Sillypeoples... you need to read the incident report. He had no options at the time of failure but took one critical action (not in the book) which meant it became survivable. Read the report... find out what it was... then comment further.
Well, although the Ux seems to call me a simpleton on occassion I would beg to differ that we are silly peoples for considering this article.
I posted it as a humble example that there are those out there in commentary land who, whilst not aviators, nevertheless appreciate not only the direct action of Sully and his crew but also some of the subtlety of the event as well.
Of course this was not meant to be an exhaustive exegisis of the accident report--that I am sure has been posted elsewhere and I would have thought that to be rather obvious. Instead, I was merely pleased that someone out there who is a non-flyer "got it" which is indeed what Sutherland did. A senior VP of the Olgivy group needs no defense from me, but I do appreciate that he added some interesting thoughts.
BTW, Sully indeed took "one critical action" but there was more than one path even in that. He flew E-SE down the Hudson, he could have made a right turn and flown up the river. This of course would not have been a good choice perhaps but even something as straightforward as taking it into the river had a decision path...