Jeffrey Skiles

Jeffrey Bruce "Jeff" Skiles (born November 18, 1959) is an American airline pilot for American Airlines.[1] On January 15, 2009, he became globally known as co-pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, when the plane lost both of its engines and he helped captain Chesley Sullenberger land the aircraft on the Hudson River.[2][3][4] Sullenberger was widely celebrated for landing the plane with no loss of life.

Jeffrey Skiles
Skiles at the 2009 presidential inauguration
Born	(1959-11-18) November 18, 1959 Oregon, Wisconsin
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Airline first officer; former co-chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program with Chesley Sullenberger
Known for	co-pilot of US Airways Flight 1549

Skiles was flying as a First Officer on flight 1549 due to a staff reduction at US Airways;[5] he had usually flown as Captain prior to the staff reduction and actually had slightly more flight hours than Sullenberger (though he had much less experience in the Airbus A320).

Both Skiles' parents were pilots during his childhood, and he became a pilot himself when he was just sixteen years old.[2] He first worked flying cargo airplanes, and then worked for Midstate Airlines from 1983 to 1986, but at the time of the emergency landing he had been with US Airways for 23 years.

Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto, asserted that the successful emergency landing relied on the cooperation of Sullenberger and Skiles.[6] Gawande's central premise is that even really experienced people in any field encounter rare events, and that successfully coping with the rare event requires first the careful anticipation of future emergencies, and second, preparing a well thought-out list of steps to follow, in advance.

" Capt. Sullenberger could be certain that Skiles was doing everything possible to re-start the engines, while he focused all of his attention and skill upon the problem of finding a place to land. The pilot and crew’s adherence to strict protocols contained in the checklist allowed them to function in a complex and dire situation."[6]

In his book Gawande reminded readers that, during an emergency, there are so many tasks to complete, that the co-pilot is working at least as hard as the pilot.[7] Sullenberger had taken on the task of finding a safe place to land, and actually landing, leaving his experienced copilot Skiles the task of following the checklist to try to restart the jet engines. He noted that Skiles was able to complete the checklist in the less than three minute period between the bird strike and the landing, noting this was "something investigators later testified to be "very remarkable" in the time frame he had—and something they found difficult to replicate in simulation."

PBS interviewer Charlie Rose interviewed Skiles on February 10, 2009.[8] During that interview Skiles predicted that Sullenberger would receive on-going attention, but that his (Skiles') fifteen minutes of fame would end when he left Rose's studio. However, he has continued to be a well-known speaker on corporate organizational reform and crisis management.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a lengthy and extensive investigation of the accident culminating in their published report dated April 4, 2010 stating, “The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the ingestion of large birds into each engine, which resulted in an almost total loss of thrust in both engines and the subsequent ditching on the Hudson River.”

After a formal review of their performance both Sullenberger and Skiles had their flight status restored, but Sullenberger retired in 2010.[9] Sullenberger and Skiles flew together, on March 3, 2010, on a recreation of their original flight plan, on Sullenberger's last flight for US Airways. It was their second flight together, as the pair had never worked together before the famous flight.[10]

Skiles went on to become the Vice President of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA) that represents the interests of 28,000 airline pilots in safety and security issues. In this role he was instrumental in the creation of the First Officer Qualification rule which significantly increased the requirements for training and experience of First Officers on the flight deck of US registered airliners. Skiles joined with the Families of Continental Flight 3407 and the National Air Disaster Alliance to mold the creation of and ensure passage of the Airline Safety Act of 2010. This sweeping legislation significantly improved safety in the US airline industry and as of 2020 there has not been even one fatality due to a US airline accident in over 10 years.

In September 2009 Skiles and Sullenberger became the honorary Co-Chairmen of EAA’s “Young Eagles” program that utilizes EAA’s nationwide network of local chapters to offer free airplane rides to young people and expose them to general aviation and careers in aviation. EAA volunteers have performed over 2.2 million flights since the program’s inception.

In March 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tried to introduce a bill that critics described as an attempt to curb unions from engaging in collective bargaining.[11] Skiles spoke in support of teachers before crowds estimated at 100,000 people at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Skiles is a writer and since 2011 has published over 100 articles on safety and general interest aviation topics in nationally distributed magazines such as Sport Aviation, FLYING, Air & Space, PilotMAG, Midwest Flyer, Vintage Airplane, and the Physicians Executive Journal.

In the 2016 drama film Sully, directed by Clint Eastwood, Skiles is portrayed by Aaron Eckhart and Sullenberger by Tom Hanks.

As of 2020 Skiles was working for American Airlines, piloting Boeing 787 Dreamliners.[1]