Both Sullenberger and Skiles also stressed how their incredible landing has affected the airline industry as a whole.

CNN: Crew of Hudson River plane receives keys to NYC

Leigh Keno , a regular on Antiques Road Show and coauthor of Hidden Treasures, a how-to guide for landing masterpieces of 18th-century American furniture, says Windsor chairs long have been a favorite of connoisseurs.

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When Jeffrey Skiles, the co-pilot of the plane that made an emergency landing in the Hudson River in January 2009, explained how he and his captain decided that an airport landing was impossible, he described the same "gaze heuristic": The angle of the plane's descending glide made the airport appear to rise in their windscreen view clearly signaling that a landing there was doomed.

WSJ: Matt Ridley on Gut Feelings and the Writings of Gerd Gigerenzer | Mind & Matter