10 Years On

Chris Gardner, USACE New York District Public Affairs

The UW is connected to its fair share of miracles. For one, the “Miracle on Ice.” And we have Jeff Skiles ’84 to thank for his role in the “Miracle on the Hudson.” On January 15, 2009, disaster struck US Airways Flight 1549 in the form of geese, which flew into the plane’s engines. Skiles, the copilot, helped guide the failing plane onto the Hudson River. Everyone survived. “It’s not like I had any oh-my-God-this-is-the-end moment. I just thought: river. Okay, we can do the river,” Skiles told On Wisconsin in 2009.