'60 Minutes': Saving 155 lives Video
'60 Minutes': Saving 155 lives Video Transcript
>> The job of evacuating one hundred and fifty passengers fell to five of the most experienced pilots and flight attendants in the business. Tonight the crew of flight 1549 describes the tense final minutes from the time the engines went out, until every passenger was back on land. ^M00:00:20 [ static ] ^M00:00:25
>> We met the crew this past week inside a U.S. Airways hangar in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among them they had well over one hundred years experience in the air. They are, along with Captain Sullenberger [assumed spelling], first officer Jeff Skyles [assumed spelling], and flight attendants Donna Dent, Sheila Dale, and Doreen Welsh, who was seriously injured.
>> This is the first time you all had worn your uniforms since January fifteenth. Doreen, you don't have yours on.
>> I just can't put it on yet. My uniform was in shreds, soaking wet. I had a different story in the back of that airplane, and mine was more violent and more, the uniform just went to pieces. I can't explain, I'm just not ready to put it on yet.
>> It's been three and a half weeks since Welsh last wore her uniform. She and the rest of the crew were on the final leg of a four day trip when the plane lost power. Co-pilot Jeff Skyles was the one who first spotted the birds.
>> When you felt them hit the aircraft, did you know right away what they had done to the engines?
>> Both engines went right back to kind of a hushed state, and that's probably just about as bad as it gets when you're an airline pilot, to hear that.
>> Which brings me to you all. Did you know what was going on?
>> It was so quiet, and Donna and I were seated beside each other. She was, she was there and I was here. And it was so quiet, and I said what was that? And we were you know, I whispered, and you did say maybe a bird strike.
>> Bird strike.
>> What was the sensation inside the cabin after the birds hit the engines?
>> I had some panic in the back, and I got out of my seat, and I calmed everyone down. I said it's okay, I said it's, we might have lost one engine, we'll circle around. And so I thought well everything is okay. And then I heard the old brace for impact.
>> What was your reaction to hearing those words?
>> Well terror.
>> Yeah. And I thought okay -
>> Sheer terror.
>> - we're gonna crash on the runway.
>> We began yelling brace, brace, heads down, stay down, brace, brace, heads down, stay down.
>> What did the passengers do when you started giving these commands?
>> They were not getting in the brace position. They were looking out the window, you know. People were just looking to see what was happening.
>> Were they screaming, crying, praying, was it quiet?
>> People were making cell phone calls in the back, but most of the people that I could see were in their brace position. And it was so fast.
>> Let's talk about the moment of impact. Doreen, you were sitting in the back of the plane. What was the impact like there?
>> The back of the plane hit first, correct? It was violent, horrible. Things flew out.
>> Meanwhile at the front of the plane, what was it like there?
>> We were thinking that wasn't so bad.
>> I mean it was a hard impact, and I thought well the gear must not have been down, because there was no bounce to it, it was just a slam.
>> Did you know that you were landing in water?
>> No we didn't, not until we looked out the window and saw the water. That's when we found out, and of course I was still thinking well maybe there's water next to the runway that we just landed on.
>> When I got out of my seat and saw that water, it was the most shocked I've ever been in my life. Wasn't expecting that.
>> But as soon as you hit, people were getting up trying to get out.
>> They did not try to get out until Sully said evacuate.
>> Once the plane landed, what was the scene like inside that cabin?
>> I could see that I could open my door, because the water, I could see it was lower than the door. So I opened my door, and my chute automatically came out, it automatically inflated. Sounds wonderful to hear your chute opening up. And then they started coming, and Donna was working her door. But there was no pushing and shoving.
>> Was it a little chaotic?
>> No, there was, there was nothing said, and there was no eye contact. They were just going.
>> But in the back of the plane, it was a very different story.
>> A passenger had come back and pushed back me and opened the door, just enough that the water came flooding in. And I went back twice and tried to recluse it, it would only go so far, it wouldn't stop, and the water was just rising. You know, garbage cans were floating, coffee pots were floating like at this level, and things were flying, it was crazy back there.
>> The impact was so powerful that it tore a hole under the airplane's tail. Doreen Welsh feared she and some of the passengers would not get out alive, as water was pouring into the cabin.
>> By the time I left there, it was here. There was no doubt in my mind it was over. And I just went crazy and started yelling at people and pushing people, and getting people to go over the seats. And as I was getting up I thought I might actually live. Cause a second ago I thought I was gone. So my emotions had gone through, within seconds, accepting death and seeing life. It was unbelievable.
>> Some people told me the passengers jumped in the water. Many of them were afraid that the plane was going to explode, or sink, and that they wanted to get away from the aircraft.
>> I remember seeing a gentleman swim, swimming. And I don't know if he had been on the wing or how he got there, but he swam over to the life raft, and people pulled him in. I heard that several people slid off of the wing, and others pulled them back on.
>> Yet amazingly, only two people on board were seriously injured. Doreen Welsh was one of them, and had to be carried onto a life raft, unaware of a deep cut she had in her leg.
>> It was quite a gash, you know, and it was all the way through the muscle, and I thought I was going to pass out at that point from it.
>> The crew quickly cleared out all the passengers, parents with children, an elderly woman, and dozens of people traveling on business, before Captain Sullenberger himself walked up and down the cabin twice to make sure everyone was out. Then he took a final look at his sinking plane, grabbed the maintenance log book, and jumped into the last life raft, now filled with passengers.
>> Did they talk to you?
>> One man did. He said you saved my life, thank you.
>> And what did you say?
>> I said you're welcome.
>> That's it?
>> Yeah. And at that point also I was telling the people on the deck of the boats to rescue the people on the wings first, because we in the rafts were relatively safe.
>> Did you see those people standing on that wing?
>> Yes. It's an amazing sight, I'll never forget it.
>> Sullenberger had landed the plane right between two ferry terminals. Within minutes, the first rescue boat pulled up alongside it, with others close behind.
>> It was amazing. It was crucial. It was life saving, literally.
>> What would you like to say to those folks?
>> Thank you seems totally inadequate. I have a debt of gratitude I fear I may never be able to repay.
>> To those rescue workers.
>> To the first responders, to all of them.
>> According to someone in the pilot's union, you were still in total professional mode once you got off that airplane.
>> Well I may have looked like it, but I was in shock.
>> You were.
>> Yeah. I just crashed an airplane.
>> One of the first calls Captain Sullenberger made was to his wife, Lori.
>> What did he say to you?
>> Well I'll tell on myself and say that when he did call our house, I was actually on the other line, and I ignored the phone call, twice. And when he called the third time, I said to the person I think I should take the call. And so I hung up, and took the call from Sully. And he was very calm, and said I just wanted you to know I'm okay, but I thought that meant that he was on the flight coming home, that he had made the connection and was coming home. And I just said okay, that's good. And he said no there's been an incident, I had to ditch an airplane in the Hudson River. And I laid down on the bed for a moment. I wasn't crying, but I was just in shock, really shaking hard. I called an old best friend and said Sully has just crashed an airplane, and I don't know what to do. And she said go get your girls. And so I hung up, and I went and got the girls and brought them home.
>> Captain Sullenberger says even though he believed that everyone who had been on board was safe, he still wanted confirmation.
>> After bugging people for hours, I finally got their word that it was official, that the count was one five five.
>> All survived.
>> Yes, one fifty five.
>> What did you say when you heard that?
>> I don't remember saying anything, but I remember feeling the most intense feeling of relief that I ever felt in my life. I felt like the weight of the universe had been lifted off my heart. [ cheering ]
>> This past week, the crew and some of the passengers of flight 1549 came face to face for the first time since the accident. That part of the story when we come back. [ ticking ]
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