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The hero pilot, Captain Sullenberger, who landed his Airbus 320 safely on the Hudson River, in New York, on Jan 15 2009 has retired after 30 years.

Captain Sullenberger, 59, officially retired at a private ceremony in Charlotte after flying his last commercial gig, Flight 1167 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida – landing 17 minutes ahead of schedule.

Captain Sullenberger also flew with the same co-pilot as during the Hudson landing of US Airways Flight 1549, First Officer Jeff Skiles. Also on board were some of the same passengers that were on Flight 1549 to celebrate his final flight.

If you don’t know the history of Flight 1549 and the amazing landing on the Hudson, check out the video below.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ryan Air’s Fat Tax, Fly for Free, and pay to use the toilet are not 100% real.

These may be very clever marketing tools guaranteed to keep Ryan Air in the spotlight for a few months. One good quirky idea , a few press releases and hey presto News and Internet coverage worth more than any advertising…. And Free too!

I have no problem with Ryan Air. Every time I have flown with the, they were on time and the tickets cost less than €70 to the UK from Dublin. Last time in fact, Michael O’Leary himself was taking the tickets at the gate, as he was on the same flight to Gatwick. A Good Manager… Getting stuck in!

Once I was in Stansted and it was snowing. Other budget airlines were stating that “these flights are now cancelled please rebook online” , Ryan Air did not cancel and I flew home only 55 mins late.

Most Recently I found that classical music was being played while boarding. Quite a change for Ryan Air.

Overall the run a good service, some people have had bad experiences but what do you expect when your trip only cost a few quid.  They even have a mobile phone system which allows you to make and receive texts and phone calls in the air – however I could not make use of this, as the mobile in-flight system did not work for me, I tried it a few times and it just doesn’t work.

I fly again with Ryan Air in late September as I travel over to AdTech London. I expect my trip will be event free and on time…. If not, you will hear about it here.

By now the black boxes of Flight AF447 pinging divices have certainly stopped sending out locator information. The investigators know the general location of the crash, but due to the vast size of the search area and the fact that the ocean is miles deep in those locaions, the black box, if found would be of little use. It could be corroded and the combination of the salt water and pressure would probably destroy the box before it could be found.

Investigators into the AF447 crash have made primary results known, blaming the pitot tubes, saying that they probably froze over and gave incorrect data to the auto-pilot.

Either way, the issues will need to be looked into.

I’m flying on Air France soon, I’m not overly worried as the Airbus is a superb machine, however, if the blog is not updated in the next 3 weeks, It could be, because I can”t get decent internet connection from beyond the grave