Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry’s contacted about late fees on an overdue library book – twenty years overdue?

Well, this one’s not quite as bad, but the individual returning the books has a good excuse.

California State University at Fresno Library Dean Peter McDonald reported that he got a call from U.S. Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger “…almost immediately about the books he’d borrowed that were stuck in the hold of a downed plane.”

When the luggage was collected from the plane that Sullenberger brought to a safe landing in New York’s Hudson River last month, one of the items returned to the hero-pilot were books he checked out from the California Universitysystem.

When he contacted the library, Sullenberger asked for an extension or at least a waiver on additional fees.

“Here is a national hero,” McDonald said, “you would think would have more important things to worry about.  I’d trust my life to a man like Sullenberger.  Of course we’ll waive the fee.”

The library not only waived the charges, but said that they plan on placing a bookplate dedicated to the pilot inside a new copy of the book the pilot checked out.

And what was the subject of one of the books Sullenberger checked out:  Professional Ethics.