History Film / Sully

A 2016 film BasedOnATrueStory, that of United Airways flight 1549 and the emergency that occurred upon take-off from [=LaGuardia=] wherein they had to make an emergency water landing in the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. Creator/TomHanks plays Captain Chesley Sullenberger (aka "Sully") and Aaron Eckhart plays his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It is directed by Creator/ClintEastwood.

* ThisIsReality: Sully notes that, in the initial simulations at the NTSB hearing, the pilots are far too GenreSavvy, as they automatically know what kind of situation they are in, immediately heading for La Guardia or Teterboro once the bird strikes take place. He reminds the NTSB that this was a real-life event without precedent, and that it took him and Skiles thirty-five seconds to run through enough of the checklists (trying -- and failing -- to restart the engines, for instance) to realize the true nature of their situation. [[note]] In RealLife, even the GenreSavvy simulation pilots had a 50-50 chance of crashing their planes with all souls lost. [[/note]] The NTSB conceded the point and introduced a thirty-five-second time delay into the revised simulations.

A 2016 film BasedOnATrueStory, that of United Airways flight 1549 and the emergency that occurred upon take-off from [=LaGuardia=] wherein they had to make an emergency water landing in the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. Creator/TomHanks plays Captain Chesley Sullenberger (aka "Sully") and Creator/AaronEckhart plays his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It is directed by Creator/ClintEastwood.

!!Tropes Used:

* FireForgedFriends: There is a very slight animosity between Sully and Skiles before take-off, nothing mean-spirited but Skiles (affectionately) called Sully a "world class bullshitter" [[note]]in being able to sell his private Airline Safety business as a huge industry when it was just him[[/note]] and Sully takes some offense to that. But their expert handling of the situation and Skiles consistent defense of his actions made them close friends by the end.

A 2016 film BasedOnATrueStory, that of United Airways flight 1549 and the emergency that occurred upon take-off from [=LaGuardia=] wherein they had to make an emergency water landing in the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. Creator/TomHanks plays Captain Chesley Sullenberger "Sully" and Aaron Eckhart plays his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It is directed by Creator/ClintEastwood.

* OhCrap: Just look at the expressions on New York office workers as they look out the window to see the airplane flying much lower than any passenger jetliner has any business flying. Recall that this happened in New York City, little more than seven years after 9/11.

* TheRealHeroes: Sully's last words are saying that he alone shouldn't be commended but it was the entire flight crew and emergency response teams that made the event inspirational rather than a disaster.

* VisualPun: Of a dramatic kind. The film opens with Sully having a nightmare where he attempted to reach an airport and ends up crashing into the city. It is literally his greatest nightmare of that situation.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Of a more pragmatic variety than most examples: Sully acknowledges that he did not go through the entire checklist when landing the plane, justifying his decision by stating that if he had, everyone would have died. (One of the factors involved is that the checklist contemplated total engine failure at 30,000 feet, while Sully lost both engines at only 2,800 feet.)

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Of a more pragmatic variety than most examples: Sully acknowledges that he did not go through the entire checklist when landing the plane, justifying his decision by stating that if he had, everyone would have died.

* ThisIsReality: Sully notes that, in the initial simulations at the NTSB hearing, the pilots are far too GenreSavvy, as they automatically know what kind of situation they are in, immediately heading for La Guardia or Teterboro once the bird strikes take place. He reminds the NTSB that this was a real-life event without precedent, and that it took him and Skiles thirty-five seconds to run through enough of the checklists to realize the true nature of their situation. [[note]] In RealLife, even the GenreSavvy simulation pilots had a 50-50 chance of crashing their planes with all souls lost. [[/note]] The NTSB conceded the point and introduced a thirty-five-second time delay into the revised simulations.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The cynicism of the NTSB was exaggerated for the film. Both computer simulations and humans in simulators actually recorded a 50% chance of success, and the real Sully insisted names were changed because every aspect of the investigation is standard. That said, no one was antagonizing Sully but was just bringing up issues of concern.

* ThisIsReality: Sully notes that, in the initial simulations at the NTSB hearing, the pilots are far too GenreSavvy, as they automatically know what kind of situation they are in, immediately heading for La Guardia or Teterboro once the bird strikes take place. He reminds the NTSB that this was a real-life event without precedent, and that it took him and Skiles thirty-five seconds to run through enough of the checklists to realize the true nature of their situation. [[note]] In RealLife, even the GenreSavvy simulation pilots had a 50-50 chance of crashing their planes with all souls lost. [[/note]] The NTSB conceded the point and introduced a thirty-five second delay into the revised simulations

OhCrap: Just look at the expressions on New York office workers as they look out the window to see the airplane flying much lower than any passenger jetliner has any business flying. Recall that this happened in New York City, little more than seven years after 9/11.

* DangerDeadpan: During the entire emergency, Sully only once raises his voice -- when calling out to any possible remaining passengers during one last walk-through of the downed plane. His calmness initially caused the air traffic controller to refuse to take seriously his stated intent to land the plane in the Hudson.

The film spends time depicting the events surrounding the incident, with particular note given towards the NTSD investigation on if the water landing was absolutely necessary. Sully himself is confident in his skills and experience that it was his only option, but is concerned that the impartial investigation might find fault.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The cynicism of the NTSD was exaggerated for the film. Both computer simulations and humans in simulators actually recorded a 50% chance of success, and the real Sully insisted names were changed because every aspect of the investigation is standard. That said, no one was antagonizing Sully but was just bringing up issues of concern.

* StrawmanPolitical: The film makes the government NTSB investigators into the villains, trying to bring Sully down. In reality, their investigation ''cleared'' him.[[note]]While they always look for human error as a possible cause of an accident, their work in examining the second engine showed clearly the birds the engine ingested were more then enough to destroy it, despite the manufacturer insisting otherwise. They also ran live-pilot simulations as to whether he could return, and unlike in the movie, ''all'' the pilots crashed. Human error was ''definitively'' ruled out. To make Sully look even better, the test pilots also attempted simulated water landings. None successfully made the water landing, either, showing big gaps in training that Sully managed to overcome. He came out looking an even bigger hero then when the investigation started.[[/note]]

* StrawmanPolitical: The film makes the government NTSB investigators into the villains, trying to bring Sully down. In reality, their investigation ''cleared'' him.[[note]]While they always look for human error as a possible cause of an accident, their work in examining the second engine showed clearly the birds the engine ingested were more then enough to destroy it, despite the manufacturer insisting otherwise. They also ran live-pilot simulations as to whether he could return, and unlike in the movie, all the pilots crashed. None successfully made the water landing, either. Human error was ''definitively'' ruled out.[[/note]]

* StrawmanPolitical: The film makes the government NTSB investigators into the villains, trying to bring Sully down. In reality, their investigation ''cleared'' him.[[note]]While they always look for human error as the possible cause of an accident, their work in examining the second engine showed clearly the birds the engine ingested were more then enough to destroy it, despite the manufacturer insisting otherwise. They also ran live-pilot simulations as to whether he could return, and unlike in the movie, all the pilots crashed. None successfully made the water landing, either. Human error was ''definitively'' ruled out.[[/note]]

* StrawmanPolitical: The film makes the government NTSB investigators into the villains, trying to bring Sully down. In reality, their investigation ''cleared'' him.[[note]]While they always look for human error as the possible cause of an accident, their work in examining the second engine showed clearly the birds the engine ingested were more then enough to destroy it, despite the manufacturer existing otherwise. They also ran live-pilot simulations as to whether he could return, and unlike in the movie, all the pilots crashed. None successfully made the water landing, either. Human error was ''definitively'' ruled out.[[/note]]

A 2016 Film BasedOnATrueStory, that of United Airways flight 1549 and the emergency that occurred upon take-off from [=LaGuardia=] wherein they had to make an emergency water landing in the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. Creator/TomHanks plays Captain Chesley Sullenberger "Sully" and Aaron Eckhart plays his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It is directed by Creator/ClintEastwood.

A 2016 Film InspiredByATrueStory, that of United Airways flight 1549 and the emergency that occurred upon take-off from [=LaGuardia=] wherein they had to make an emergency water landing in the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. Creator/TomHanks plays Captain Chesley Sullenberger "Sully" and Aaron Eckhart plays his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It is directed by Creator/ClintEastwood.