On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 on a flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, struck a flock of birds shortly after take-off, losing all engine power. Unable to reach any airport for an emergency landing due to their low altitude, pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats, with only a few serious injuries.

This water landing of a powerless jetliner with no deaths became known as the Miracle on the Hudson, and a National Transportation Safety Board official described it as "the most successful ditching in aviation history". The Board rejected the notion that the pilot could have avoided ditching by returning to LaGuardia or diverting to nearby Teterboro Airport.

The pilots and flight attendants were awarded the Master's Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators in recognition of their "heroic and unique aviation achievement". It was dramatized in the 2016 film Sully, starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger.


Electric Youth & College - A Real Hero
   • College & Electric Youth - A Real Her...  

Electric Youth frontman Austin Garrick, along with David Grellier, who performs as College, have cited separate inspirations for producing the song.

Garrick was inspired to write the song by a quote from his grandfather, who spoke of airline captain Chesley Sullenberger after the US Airways Flight 1549 water landing incident. Garrick's grandfather referred to Sullenberger as "a real human being and a real hero", which became the song's refrain. The second verse of the song, which includes the line "155 people on board", refers to the 155 survivors of US 1549.