Chesley?

The media was, justifiably, fascinated, with the crash of US Airways flight 1549. And I for one am glad they were fascinated with it.

Normally the media, especially television, will focus, in the case of a disaster like a plane crash, on wreckage and death. Other stories the media focuses on, and quite a bit lately because there's been so much of it, will be tales of the corruption of elected officials (are you reading this, Rod?) and the egomania of those seeking public office (are you reading this, Roland?)

The US Airways story is the complete opposite. It is a story of good news, of people acting with intelligence and bravery, of helping those who desperately need help, in some cases, like those of the ferry operators, when it's not necessarily your job to help in a crisis. It is a story of "the better angels of our nature," of people doing what people should do, rather than what they shouldn't.

My favorite part of the story involves the pilot, for two reasons. Granted, it was way cool of him to walk up and down the aisle of the plane to make sure everyone had gotten off safely. Not once but twice did he do this. This was a Captain of the Old School, going down with his ship, if, God forbid, it went down.

Even more impressive to me was the thought process he must have gone through after finding out both engines of his plane were out of commission. He had to be thinking about possible landing sites - back to La Guardia? can I make it to Teterboro? if I don't make it to either one I may go down in a densely populated neighborhood, I better make a water landing on the Hudson. Wow. That's a lot to think about, and very quickly too.

Know what's even better? The pilots name is Chesley. Who the heck names their kid Chesley? What kind of name is that? I've never heard of it before. He had to be tough to get through his early life with a name like Chesley. Maybe that's why he became a pilot. And thank God for all those 150-plus people on board that plane that he did become a pilot.

It's a great feel good story. Makes you proud to be part of the human race. Focus on it. The Huffington Post has a nice array of the coverage.