Mirada Research and Manufacturing in Ironton, Minn., is getting some attention for its supporting role in helping all 155 passengers survive when U.S. Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River.

The company made the the valves, flanges, hand pumps and other components on the lifesaving inflatable emergency slides that passengers used to evacuate the plane and await rescue after the plane landed in the river, says Jodie Tweed in the Brainerd Dispatch.

Mirada employees learned the day after the incident from their client, Air Cruisers -- which produces aircraft inflatable safety products -- that their components were used on the plane.

"It makes you proud that you at least had a small part in saving those people," said Bob Venne, Mirada operations manager. "We're in a weird business because we build products we hope are never used."

The company was started in Chaska in 1970 by Lloyd Wass, who moved the business to Ironton in 1996.