'Any good story has to have a villain': Sully crash investigators unhappy over their 'unfair' portrayal in Tom Hanks movie

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Investigators into the 'Miracle on the Hudson' water landing which inspired a film have complained about their negative portrayal.

Sully is based around the dramatic event in January 2009, when Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the river after both engines lost thrust when the aircraft struck a flock of geese. All 155 passengers and crew survived and Sully was praised a national hero. 

But the film shows that even as the pilot was lauded by the media for his aviation skills, the investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, threatened to destroy his reputation and career.

Yet the real-life investigators refute their portrayal as the villains of the piece, Bloomberg reports.

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Sully is based around the dramatic event in January 2009, when Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger (played by Tom Hanks, pictured) landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the river after both engines lost thrust when the aircraft struck a flock of geese 

The real-life investigators refute their portrayal as the villains of the piece (pictured is former NTSB board investigator Bob Benzon during the 2009 investigation) 

'I think we're getting the dirty end of the stick here,' said Robert Benzon, who oversaw the investigation before retiring in 2012.

He even compared the realism of the events portrayed by the film to 'somewhere between Sharknado 2 and Sharknado 3. 

'I just hope it isn't as bad as everyone is telling me it is.' 

The NTSB report into the accident actually credited Sully for his quick actions which saved the lives of passengers and crew.

The movie shows Sully (played here by Tom Hanks) being persecuted by investigators 

It concludes that his decision to ditch on the Hudson River, rather than attempting to land at an airport, 'provided the highest probability that the accident would be survivable.'

'There was no effort to crucify him or embarrass him,' said Malcolm Brenner, a retired NTSB specialist in human behavior. He was part of the team of investigators who first interviewed Sullenberger after the accident. 'If there were questions, it was to learn things.'

But the movie tells a different story.

The film shows Sully, played by Tom Hanks, as his life begins to fall apart as investigators scrutinize everything from his drinking to his personal life.

'Until I read the script, I didn't know the investigative board was trying to paint the picture that he had done the wrong thing,' said director Clint Eastwood on the Warner Bros. website. '

No one has ever trained for an incident like that': The film trailer showed the plane preparing to make the famous landing

Real-life hero: The Oscar winning actor plays the pilot who saved 155 passengers when he landed US Airways Flight 1549 onto the Hudson River in 2009

'Brace for impact': Sully warns passengers to prepare for a crash landing in the dramatic trailer

'They were kind of railroading him into, it was his fault. And that wasn't the case at all.'

Warner Bros. say the movie was based on Sullenberger's 2009 book 'Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters'. 

The movie was based on Sully's book but investigators say it barely mentioned NTSB

The studio released a statement from the pilot which said: 'The story being told came from my experiences, and reflects the many challenges that I faced and successfully overcame both during and after the flight.

'I was involved in the development and am thrilled it's being brought to the screen.'

However, Brenner says he read the book and there was barely any mention of the NTSB investigation.

The board say they were not asked to participate in the production of the movie version of Sully and as such, 'we were not afforded an opportunity to ensure our actions and words were portrayed with accurate context or reflected our perspective.'

Far from persecuting Sully, they say the pilot and others involved in the case were actually treated more deferentially than most.

Many investigators said they had actually been impressed with his actions which was reflected in their report.

Actor Tom Hanks met heroic captain Chelsey 'Sully' Sullenberger ahead of the film detailing the pilot's dramatic landing in the Hudson River in January 2009 

Aaron Eckhart, Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks at the premiere

One of the few criticisms levied at him was from Candace Kolander, a representative of the Association of Flight Attendants union, who criticized Scully for failing to announce the water landing over the intercom.

To which, the pilot had explained his top priority was to avoid anyone being injured and he feared the flight attendants may have been caught out trying to put passengers into life vests.

The report also found that, hypothetically, the plane could have immediately returned to  the airport instead of performing the dangerous water landing. But investigators agreed that any pilot would have needed a few seconds to analyze the situation - by which time it would have been too late to land at the airport.

The NTSB concluded that Sully had made the most sensible decision.

The agency say they carry out reports into every accident to try and determine what went wrong to try and prevent it happening in the future.

But Benzon said that with Sully, a national hero, they took extra care to avoid appearing critical of his actions.

Malcolm Brenner (left) Robert Benzon and their fellow investigators say they were unfairly portrayed in the movie

'We did a lot of wordsmithing to not distort anything, so to speak, but to make it seem like we weren't on a witch hunt,' he said.

'Any good story has to have a villain,' Brenner added. The investigators are simply confused as to why Hollywood has chosen them.

Warner Bros. declined to comment when approached by reporters.

Hanks stars in the film alongside Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, Jamey Sheridan, and Jerry Ferrara.

The highly anticipated drama Sully is scheduled to hit US theaters on September 9.