FAA Manager Featured in Film

Ben Sliney's 15 minutes of fame have arrived, but you have to think that it's at best a bittersweet moment for him, given the events that brought him into the public eye. Sliney was the FAA operations manager who gave the order to ground all planes in U.S. airspace after the Sept. 11 attacks. Now he stars as himself in the new film United 93, which tells the story of the jet that crashed in rural Pennsylvania after its passengers fought back against hijackers. Sliney had initially been slated only for a brief cameo in the film, but he performed so well that the director decided no one else could do a better job of playing him.