'60 Minutes': 'I was sure I could do it' Video

'60 Minutes': 'I was sure I could do it' Video Transcript

>> When U.S. Airways Flight 1549 crash-landed into New York's Hudson River, 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. Tonight, for the first time, he gives his 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.

>> Did you think, "How are we going to get ourselves out of this"?

>> No. My initial reaction was one of disbelief, "I can't believe this is happening. This doesn't happen to me."

>> What did you mean by that?

>> I meant that I had this expectation that my career would be one in which I didn't crash an airplane.

>> [Sirens] First responders in New York City expected the worst, an Airbus A320 with 155 people onboard 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, North Carolina.

>> It was a normal climb out in every regard. About 90 seconds after takeoff, I realized there were birds filling the entire windscreen, from top to bottom, left to right, large birds, too close to avoid.

>> When did you realize these birds had hit the plane?

>> You could hear them. As soon as they'd do it, 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?

>> 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. I smelled what I described at the time, and I still would, as a burned bird smell being brought from the engine air into the air conditioning system of the airplane.

>> Did you realize right away the engines are failing?

>> Yes. It was obvious to me from the very 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 of the planet. Yes, I knew it was a very challenging situation.

>> What did the aircraft itself do?

>> It was almost a complete loss of forward momentum. 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?

>> How did you do that?

>> I put my hand on the side stick and said, the protocol for transfer of control, "My aircraft." The First Officer Jeff immediately answered, "Your aircraft."

>> So you took control of the plane. The engines have stopped working. How do you fly a plane like that?

>> You glide it. You use the forward momentum to provide, the airflow over the wings, to provide sufficient lift.

>> What went through your head?

>> 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 a runway.

>> [Background noise] The airplane was about 3,000 feet over New York City and descending fast. Thirty seconds after the engines failed, Captain Sullenberger began urgently looking for someplace to land and radioed air traffic control.

>> I said, "Mayday, mayday, mayday. Cactus 1549. Hit birds. We've lost thrust on both engines. Returning back towards LaGuardia."

>> "Okay. You need to return to LaGuardia. Turn left heading up 220."

>> "220."

>> "Stop your departure. We've got an emergency returning."

>> But you didn't return to LaGuardia.

>> No. I quickly determined that, due to our distance from LaGuardia and the distance and altitude required to make the turn back to LaGuardia, it would be problematic reaching the runway. Trying to make a runway that I couldn't quite make could well be catastrophic to everyone on board and the persons on the ground. My next thought was to consider Teterboro.

>> "What's the word to our right? Anything in New Jersey? Maybe Teterboro?"

>> "Okay, yeah. I'll see you right side at Teterboro Airport. Do you want to try to go to Teterboro?"

>> "Yes."

>> [Background noise] But it soon became clear he couldn't make it to Teterboro either.

>> "Turn right 280. You can land runway one at Teterboro."

>> "We can't do it."

>> The only viable alternative, the only level, smooth place sufficiently large to land an airliner was the river.

>> Was it in your sight?

>> It was right to my left.

>> You contacted air traffic control again, didn't you?

>> Yes. I said, "We're going in the Hudson."

>> That decision to go in the Hudson was made two and a half minutes into the flight and just one minute after the birds had hit. Sullenberger and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, started preparing to land on the water. What kinds of things did you have to think about or worry about in the process of that?

>> As soon as I assumed control of the aircraft, I turned the engine ignition on. So if there was any chance of a re-light, we would have gotten it automatically. The next thing I did was I started the auxiliary power unit, another small jet engine that we use to provide electrical power for the airplane.

>> What happened when you all tried to do those things?

>> No luck. I got the AB running, I turned the ignition on, but still no usable thrust. We were descending rapidly toward the water.

>> So you were going fast toward the earth?

>> Yes. The water was coming up at us fast.

>> Do you think about the passengers at that moment?

>> Not specifically, more abstractly, perhaps. I knew I had to solve this problem. I knew I had to find a way out of this box I found myself in.

>> Did you at any point pray?

>> I would imagine somebody in back was taking care of that for me while I was flying the airplane.

>> About 155 people?

>> I think my focus at that point was so intensely on the landing.

>> You couldn't think of anything else.

>> I thought of nothing else.

>> There were just three and a half minutes for Captain Sullenberger to accomplish what only a few commercial airline pilots had ever done, and he was determined to avoid the fate of this Ethiopian airliner, which landed in the Indian Ocean in 1996 and broke into pieces, killing most of the passengers on board.

>> That's what I was trying to avoid.

>> What were some of the things you had to do to make this landing successful?

>> I needed to touch down with the wings exactly level. I needed to touch down with the wings exactly level. I needed to touch down with the nose slightly up. I needed to touch down at a decent rate that was survivable. I needed to touch down just above our minimum flying speed but not below it. I needed to make all these things happen simultaneously.

>> And yet you had to keep your cool.

>> Right. The physiological reaction I had to this was strong. I had to force myself to use my training and force calm on the situation.

>> Was that a hard thing to do?

>> No. It just took some concentration.

>> Did it feel like three and a half minutes?

>> Yes, it did.

>> Really?

>> Really.

>> It wasn't in slow motion?

>> I wish it had been. I might have thought about more things on the way down.

>> Tell me what you saw from the cockpit.

>> I saw the river ahead of me, long, wide with boats at the south end. We were trained to land in the water near other boats to facilitate rescue. That was where the airplane was headed and that was a good place to go.

>> Ninety seconds before hitting the water, Captain Sullenberger made an announcement to the passengers and crew. Three simple words, "Brace for impact."

>> I made the brace for impact announcement in the cabin. Immediately, through the hardened cockpit door, I heard the flight attendants begin shouting their commands in response to my command to brace, heads down, stay down. I could hear them clearly and they were chanting it in unison over and over again to the passengers to warn them and instruct them. I felt very comforted by that. I knew immediately that they were on the same page, that if I could land the airplane, that they could get them out safely.

>> But there was still a big if.

>> I was sure I could do it.

>> You were?

>> Yes.

>> There couldn't have been a better man for the job, a former Air Force fighter pilot who had spent nearly 30 years flying commercial aircraft, specialized in accident investigations and instructed flight crews on how to respond to crises in the air.

>> I think in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment.

>> That moment was captured by security cameras at 3:30 p.m. on January 15th. Flight 1549 approached the waterline and then landed in the river.

>> Hitting the water is hard. It was a hard landing. Then we scooted along the surface for some point. Then at some point the nose finally did come down as the speed decreased. Then we turned slightly to the left and stopped.

>> When you landed, you and the first officer looked at each other.

>> And we said, "That wasn't as bad as I thought." Then we quickly began doing our duties. He was running the evacuation checklist while I opened the door and commanded to evacuate.

>> Did you give yourself even a few seconds though to acknowledge that you had averted disaster?

>> No, because I hadn't quite yet. I had business to attend to. I had a job to do.

>> What was it like for the rest of the people inside that plane? The entire crew of Flight 1549 will tell that part of the story when we come back. ^M00:11:12 [ Clock ticking ]