Famed Pilot 'Sully' Has Alzheimer's

The pilot who pulled off the "Miracle on the Hudson" is now facing a much different test. Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger tells People that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in August 2025, after noticing lapses in the near-photographic memory that helped make him one of America's best-known aviators. "It is early stage," the 75-year-old says. "For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don't sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey." Sullenberger is now among an estimated 7.2 million Americans 65 and older living with Alzheimer's.

Sullenberger and his wife, Lorrie, say they debated whether to go public, then decided to use his profile to push others out of "the shadows" of the disease. Sullenberger frames this as a continuation of his life of service, from Air Force fighter pilot to safety advocate to US ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization. The New York Post recounts his daring, and safe, landing in the Hudson River in 2009, after his passenger plane lost both engines after hitting a flock of birds.