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Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the heroic pilot who safely touched down on the Hudson River after losing power to both engines last January, is returning to the cockpit and creating a significant branding opportunity for U.S. Airways.

Thus far, the media has seemed more interested in reporting on Captain Sully' s return than U.S. Airways has been in publicizing it - and that' s a smart move. Captain Sully is a genuine American hero, not a celebrity, and he should continue to be treated (and marketed) with this reference. Over-exposure and even the appearance of slick marketing campaigns would run counter to everything that makes Captain Sully so appealing to the public. He is an honest, low-key hero who did his job very, very well under the most trying of circumstance. U.S. Airways should be applauded for resisting the temptation to overplay its hand.

That being said, however, Captain Sully' s return does provide a platform to send a powerful and brand distinguishing message about U.S. Airways' commitment to airline safety. There are ways to leverage his good name without coming on too strong. For instance, in addition to his new role as a member of U.S. Airways' Flight Operations Safety Management Team - in effect the airline' s defacto "Chief Safety Officer" - why not make Captain Sully the airline' s official blogger? At a time when large corporations are looking for a way to effectively engage the digital world, Captain Sully presents the opportunity for one company to put a human face on who they are, emphasize safety in a crowded and nearly indistinguishable marketplace, and elongate the association of Captain Sully and the U.S. Airways family.

The online dialogue surrounding airline safety is already swirling. By engaging the conversation with someone who is trusted, credible, and clearly more than just a corporate mouthpiece, U.S. Airways stands to transform a brand once known for going into bankruptcy twice into one that is leading the charge to make the safest from of travel known to man even safer.

It' s not as high-profile a strategy as making Sully the star of commercials or putting his face on the cover of the in-flight magazine - but that' s precisely the point. The goal here is to provide a venue in which Sully can speak to what the airline is doing everyday to ensure the safety of its passengers without looking as if the airline is capitalizing on his heroism. By making online efforts the centerpiece of that strategy, U.S. Airways would not only achieve that goal - it would do so in a way that maximizes the probability that the consumers, reporters, and other airline safety experts who are already populating the blogosphere would echo his sentiments throughout the marketplace.

Captain Sully blogging would be like speaking softly into the Grand Canyon. He wouldn' t have to shout, but his messages would travel far and wide nonetheless.

Richard S. Levick, Esq. is President and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications, the nation's top crisis communications firm, and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog.