July 5, 2009
Flight 1549: A Routine Takeoff Turns Ugly
Captain Sullenberger Recalls The Bird Strike And The Tense And Crucial Minutes That Followed
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Play CBS Video Video 'I Was Sure I Could Do It' Katie Couric speaks with Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger about the final moments before U.S. Airways Flight 1549 made a dramatic landing in N.Y.'s Hudson River.
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Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (CBS)
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Interactive Miracle On The Hudson All survive as commercial airliner makes emergency landing in Hudson River in New York.
When US Airways flight 1549 landed in New York's Hudson River on Jan. 15, what seemed destined to be a tragedy became an extraordinary tale of success and survival. By the time all 155 people were pulled from the icy waters by a flotilla of rescue boats, a story began to emerge of a highly trained pro with a cool demeanor who had deftly guided his doomed aircraft to safety.
In an instant, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger found himself at the heart of an uplifting news story people all over the world wanted to celebrate.
In February, just two weeks later, Capt. Sullenberger gave Katie Couric and 60 Minutes his first account of the harrowing five minutes in the sky over New York City.
"It was the worst sickening pit of your stomach, falling through the floor feeling I've ever felt in my life. I knew immediately it was very bad," Sullenberger told correspondent Katie Couric.
"Did you think, 'How are we gonna get ourselves out of this?'" Couric asked.
"No. My initial reaction was one of disbelief. 'I can't belief this is happening. This doesn't happen to me,'" he remembered.
Asked what he meant by that, Sullenberger said, "I meant that I had this expectation that my career would be one in which I didn't crash an airplane."
First responders in New York City expected the worst - an Airbus A320 with 155 people down in the middle of the frigid Hudson River. Only five minutes earlier, Captain Sullenberger had taken off from LaGuardia Airport on a routine flight bound for Charlotte, N.C.
"Well, it was a normal climb out in every regard. And about 90 seconds after takeoff, I notice there were birds, filling the entire windscreen, from top to bottom, left to right, large birds, close, too close to avoid," Sullenberger recalled.
Asked when he realized there had been a bird strike, he said, "Oh, you could hear them, as soon as they did. Loud thumps. It felt like the airplane being pelted by heavy rain or hail. It sounded like the worst thunderstorm I'd ever heard growing up in Texas. It was shocking. "
"When did you realize that these birds had seriously damaged the aircraft?" Couric asked.
"When I felt, heard and smelled the evidence of them going into the engines. I heard the noises. I felt the engine vibrations, of the damage being done to the engines. And I smelled what I described at the time, and I still would as a burned bird smell being brought from the engine area into the conditioning system of the airplane," he said.
He said he realized right away that the engines were failing. "It was obvious to me from the moment that we lost the thrust that this was a critical situation. Losing thrust on both engines, at a low speed, at a low altitude, over one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. Yes, I knew it was a very challenging situation."
The plane, Sullenberger explained, lost forward momentum almost completely. "The airplane stopped climbing and going forward, and began to rapidly slow down. That's when I knew I had to take control of the airplane."
"I put my hand on the side stick and I said, the protocol for the transfer of control, 'my aircraft,' and the first officer Jeff immediately answered, 'Your aircraft,'" Sullenberger remembered.
With no engine power, Sullenberger had to glide the jet. "You use the forward momentum to provide the air flow over the wings to provide the sufficient lift."
Asked what was going through his head, Sullenberger told Couric, "I knew immediately that this, unlike every other flight I'd had for 42 years, was probably not going to end with the airplane undamaged on the runway."
Bird Strike:
Produced by Tanya Simon, Michael Radutzky and Lori Beecher
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 144 Commentslet the man tell his story and stop interrupting the track of energy with your wide eyed
little girl look, yukkk.
I thought the interview went on smoothly, even if it was edited that way, it went well covering every aspect of the Hudson adventure.
If we''re going to start to ditch on someone like Couric then let''s go after all of them.
I don''t think there''s a single interviewer out there that''s worth one tenth of what they''re getting paid with the excpetion of Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose.
Everyone else want to play it safe and keep it all superficial and family friendly, not just Couric.
It''s some kind of contagious disease that has pestered the US MSM for decades.
And then they tell me what to do and I''d be, like, "No La Guardia or Jersey for me, mister. I''ll only be able to go glide this thing on the Hudson."
And then they''ll give me an idea of what to do and I land the plane on the Hudson safely.
But I''d never appear on Larry King, that guy is boring!
Although the topic of the interview was of great interest to me, the questions being asked were lousy and at times they were almost laughable due to their sheer stupidity. I have seen better interviews on PBS, done by kids. I feel Couric did an injustice to this story with the way she conducted her her interview.
Tonight, the Captain and Crew, from flight 1549, were on the David Letterman Show and I was very pleased with what I heard. Letterman had truly done some research and his interview displayed more professional qualities than the interview Couric had done. This is quite sad, considering her position at CBS.
In your interview there was but one comment by Capt. %u201CSully%u201D that thanked the first responders and was quickly passed over by Katie then never looked into again. Who were these first responders? They were not the NYPD or the NYFD but rather the USCG Licensed Captains and crews of the Ferry Boats. They were at the emergency immediately in a state of rescue!
These people, who did save the lives of people in the water and on the wings of the plane, as Capt. "Sully" and the video so affirmed, yet nothing was said about them. To Capt. %u201CSully", these folks are hero%u2019s that deserve respect and honor. They saved lives, yet they were doing as he, what they were trained for, they were doing their jobs.
Look beyond the sensationalism of what the pilot did but also look to what the boat captains did also. Their was more than 1 hero that day.
Captain Tim Paegelow
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