( CNN ) -- Passengers on the US Airways flight that crash-landed into the Hudson River Thursday afternoon praised the actions and courage of the pilot , a safety consultant with 40 years of experience in the aviation industry . Chesley B . `` Sully '' Sullenberger , a former Air Force fighter pilot , has been with US Airways since 1980 . Sources tell CNN that Chesley B . `` Sully '' Sullenberger was piloting US Airways flight 1549 from New York 's LaGuardia airport to Charlotte , North Carolina , when at least one of the plane 's engines failed . Passenger Jeff Kolodjay offered `` kudos '' to Sullenberger for a landing that minimized damage to the aircraft and its 155 passengers and crew . `` All of a sudden the captain came on and he told us to brace ourselves and probably brace ourselves pretty hard . But he did an amazing job -- kudos to him on that landing , '' said Kolodjay , who was sitting in seat 22A . Sullenberger 's wife told CNN that she was stunned to hear the news from her husband after it was all over . `` I had n't been watching the news . I 've heard Sully say to people , 'It 's rare for an airline pilot to have an incident in their career , ' `` said Lori Sullenberger of Danville , California . `` When he called me he said , 'There 's been an accident . ' At first I thought it was something minor , but then he told me the circumstances and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school . '' US Airways said all 155 passengers and crew are alive and safely off the plane . The crash-landing has also earned the former fighter pilot and private safety consultant accolades from state and government officials . New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg commended the pilot for not leaving the plane without checking to make sure every passenger had been evacuated . `` It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out , '' Bloomberg said at a press conference Thursday . `` I had a long conversation with the pilot . He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board -- and assures us there was not . '' Sullenberger apparently was forced to make an emergency landing after geese were sucked into one or both of the jet 's engines . An eyewitness working on the west side of Manhattan said the belly of the plane touched the water first . An official who heard tape recordings of the radio traffic from Flight 1549 reported the pilot was extraordinarily calm during the event . `` There was no panic , no hysterics , '' the official said . `` It was professional , it was calm , it was methodical . It was everything you hoped it could be . '' The pilot and air traffic controller discussed options , including landing at Teterboro airport in New Jersey , the official said . Then there was a `` period of time where there was no communications back , and I 'm assuming he was concentrating on more important things . '' Sullenberger 's background in aviation appeared to have prepared him for such a situation . He has been a pilot with US Airways since 1980 , following seven years in the U.S. Air Force . His resume -- posted on the Web site for his safety consulting firm , Safety Reliability Methods , Inc. -- lists piloting procedures , technical safety strategies , emergency management and operations improvement , as areas of industry expertise . He served as an instructor and Air Line Pilots Association safety chairman , accident investigator and national technical committee member , according to a biography on the site . He participated in several USAF and National Transportation Safety Board accident investigations , and worked with NASA scientists on a paper on error and aviation , his site says . For the passengers on flight 1549 , Sullenberger 's skill and expertise were apparent . iReport.com : Did you see the crash-landing ? Send images . `` I 've flown in a lot of planes and that was a phenomenal landing , '' said passenger Fred Berretta said . Berretta was sitting in seat 16A right over one of the engines when it failed and the pilot turned the plane to align it with the Hudson River . He described silence in the plane as the passengers waited to hear from the crew . A few moments later , the direction to brace for landing came . `` It was an amazing piece of airmanship , '' said Peter Goelz , a former NTSB managing director .
NEW : Chesley B . `` Sully '' Sullenberger has been a pilot with Air Force since 22A . NEW : Former NASA fighter pilot has worked with NYC as safety consultant NASA mayor says pilot checked plane twice for passengers before leaving `` I 've flown in a lot of planes and that was a phenomenal landing , '' passenger said .