No doubt you have seen the amazing footage of US Airways Flight 1549 floating down the Hudson River after an amazing emergency ditching by Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III after the Airbus lost power in both engines nearly immediately after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport after apparently colliding with a flock of Canadian Geese. 

The fact that Sully was able to not only bring the airplane back to Earth with no power and land smoothly in the waters of the Hudson River immediately after taking off and while navigating the busy airspace around the metropolis of New York… but also the fact that all 155 survived and were evacuated off the plane within seconds with very few injuries is nothing but miraculous.  It’s a testament to the experience, professionalism, and courage of the entire crew of the airliner that afternoon.

Marisa at Needled.com, a native New Yorker herself, was so in awe of Sully and the crew that it motivated her to add a tribute to them in her blog yesterday.  She and I both noticed the Facebook fan site for Sully and immediately joined… and over 17,000 others have too!

Kudos to the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 — you are heroes to us in the aviation world!

As an aside, if anyone hears or sees anyone who has marked this event with a tattoo tribute to Sully or the crew, please let us know right away!  Email us at tattoosinflight@gmail.com.

We’re striking back up our “Space Saturday” feature with this inner arm tattoo of a Russian (former Soviet) cosmonaut. The tattoo is of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to be launched into space on April 12, 1961 and the first to orbit the Earth.  Gagarin was a pioneer in the early space race as the USA and USSR fought to match or beat each others triumphs in spaceflight.  Tragically, Gagarin lost his life on March 27, 1968 at the young age of 34 during a routine training flight when the MiG-15 UTI he was flying with an instructor, crashed near the town of Kirzhach.

Artist Jason Butcher of Immortal Ink in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, United Kingdom fittingly immortalized Gagarin in this tattoo.

Please click on the image above or the link below for a larger image.

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This week we are beginning our regular series, “Winged Wednesday” which highlights full-back tattoos of wings.

This week we feature the work of “Tony the Tattoo Guy” at skINStAIN? Tattoo Co. in St. Petersburg, FL. The wings above were a cover-up of an earlier tattoo of smaller wings and the detail can be seen in the photo at the right… click on the photo for a larger view.

Have a flight related tattoo you want to share? Email us at tattoosinflight@gmail.com!