Both planes then made contact with a regional air traffic control facility about 50 miles away in Warrenton, Va., which is usually responsible for guiding planes between airports.
DECK officers on American aircraft carriers use hand gestures to guide planes around their vessels.
Sullenberger's feat may have been particularly dramatic, but skilled pilots guide planes out of hazardous situations every day.
Eurocontrol employs air traffic controllers who guide planes around the skies over Europe, and has played a central co-ordinating role in this crisis.
It is eventually intended for use in nearly 200 air traffic offices around the country, as well as some military bases, to guide planes near airports.
At a news conference here this afternoon, Ms. Carmody said the Federal Aviation Administration had checked the airport's radio beacon, which guides planes in, and found a slight irregularity.
That includes about 1,000 radio beacons, which pilots use to triangulate their positions; 1,200 instrument landing systems that guide planes to runways; and scores of radar stations, which controllers use to determine the position of planes.
The F.A.A., which began reanalyzing traffic patterns two years ago in an attempt to cut commercial flight delays, is now considering consolidating control in a single place by merging the operations of Ronkonkoma, whose 371 controllers guide high-altitude, long-distance traffic, with those of Westbury, whose 266 controllers guide planes flying below 17,000 feet.
His right hand gripped the stick, guiding the plane toward the field.
You're led through the movie like an air traffic controller guiding a plane down a runway.
