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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Sullenberger Aviation Museum president to retire

Stephen Saucier, president of Sullenberger Aviation Museum for the past eight years, said Thursday he would retire at the end of the museum’s fiscal year. The museum re-opened in June with a new name and location after closing in 2019 after losing its hangar space at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

Sullenberger Aviation Museum President Stephen Saucier talks about opening of museum as a plane lands at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in this May 23, 2024, file photo.

The three-building campus near CLT runways and the N.C. Air National Guard base opened following a $34 million community fundraising effort led by Charlotte-based Falfurrias Management Partners Chair Marc Oken, a Navy aviator in Vietnam and former chief finance officer of Bank of America. Since opening, the museum has attracted more than 60,000 visitors and more than 7,000 students for STEM-based field trips, according to a release. The museum expects to attract 120,000 visitors annually and have an $8.5 million economic impact in the Charlotte region.

Connecting more with young people and pushing them to consider potential aviation careers was a goal of Saucier before the museum re-opened. He pointed out that the west Charlotte neighborhoods surrounding the airport included 20 low-income public schools within a 10-mile distance.

A centerpiece of the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte is the plane Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger landed in the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson.”

“A museum is really, really good at intrinsic motivation, trying to get a child inspired to dream about what they can do in this career,” Saucier told Business North Carolina a few days before the museum’s re-opening.

The museum has more than 40 aircraft on display both inside and outside its 105,000-square-foot of building space. Components of the museum include the Honeywell Makerspace and the museum’s Flight Forward Program, which connects students with STEM careers through partnerships with educational institutions, nonprofits and aviation professionals.

 “His ability to galvanize the community around SAM’s mission was most crucial to the museum’s survival and success during a pivotal moment,” Oken said in a release. “Stephen’s steadfast leadership and clear vision has not only preserved the legacy of the Carolinas’ rich aviation history but also laid the groundwork for an inclusive and innovative future. His efforts have united a community of supporters, ensuring that SAM remains a place where people from all walks of life can be inspired by the boundless possibilities of aviation.”

One of Saucier’s most pivotal roles was his longstanding partnership with Capt. C.B. “Sully” and Lorrie Sullenberger, whose relationship with the museum began after the then-Carolinas Aviation Museum became home to the iconic “Miracle on the Hudson” Airbus A320 in 2011.

Saucier helped champion a citywide 10th anniversary celebration in January 2019 for Flight 1549 – which was en route to Charlotte after taking off from LaGuardia Airport and hitting a flock of geese, necessitating an emergency landing in the icy Hudson River. In 2023, Saucier oversaw the rebranding of the museum to its current Sullenberger moniker.

The museum continues to house the Flight 1549 plane and corresponding passenger and crew stories and artifacts and has maintained its relationship with Sullenberger, who celebrates his 74th birthday today.

“Though at first I said landing in the Hudson River was the result of ‘us just doing our jobs,’ I think everyone involved did their jobs exceedingly well, better than could have been expected under those circumstances and required all our knowledge, skill, experience and judgment,” Sullenberger said in a release. “A true servant leader through the museum’s many iterations, Stephen has always understood the importance of the ‘behind-the-scenes,’ and how crucial investments in STEM will be for the continued evolution of our industry. Stephen has the same reverence for the Flight 1549 story that my family and I do, and I could not be more grateful for his strategic and visionary leadership and keeping the museum’s mission at the forefront of everything he does. I look forward to seeing the museum continue to grow and evolve in the years to come.” 

Saucier will stay on with the museum until the board selects his successor. 

A Smithsonian affiliate, the museum receives support from the Infusion Fund, a partnership between the City of Charlotte, Foundation For The Carolinas and other donors. 

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