After three months of investigations, public appearances and outright hero worship, the first member of the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 is heading back to work on Monday, almost four months after the Airbus A320 ditched in the Hudson River. First Officer Jeff Skiles told The Associated Press the hiatus is the longest he’s spent away from the controls since he was 17 and he’s anxious to get back in the cockpit, even though his airline offered him the whole summer off. “I’m the first person to go back. It’s not really any psychological reason, at least in my case, it’s all these media events have constantly taken up my time — three, four, five days a week,” Skiles said as he prepared to throw the first pitch in the Milwaukee Brewers’ home opener near his hometown of Oregon, Wis. “I do miss it and I’m going to enjoy going back.”
It was the second brush with the flight crew by the Brewers, who were visiting San Francisco for the Giants’ home opener last Tuesday when the left seater on the flight, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, threw out the first pitch. Sullenberger is from Danville, Calif., about 30 miles south of San Francisco. He wore the number 155 on his jersey for the number of people aboard the Airbus, most of whom walked away without a scratch. There’s no word on when Sullenberger will be back at work but he likely still has a full calendar of public appearances. Skiles said all the attention has been gratifying but it’s time to get back to his normal life. “I’m regular Jeff Skiles from Oregon, Wis. Right now, just all these amazing things seem to keep happening to me,” Skiles said. “But sooner or later, I’m going to go back to what I was before.”
