Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. We must redeem our lives, we must make sure we don't waste the gift we've been given. We've been waiting for this day.". His brother, a fireman, had died on 9/11 in the World Trade Centre, just a little further downstream. He said he would ask Captain Sullenberger to be his best man, if the relationship should get that far. I appreciate everything. think back to the Air Florida crash in 1982 where two inexperienced pilots took off in a snowstorm in Washington DC.result many killed. And they On board were 5 crew members, including Capt. A year on, he still finds it hard to put into words the impact of the crash. [58] Patrick Harten, the controller who had worked the flight, said that "the hardest, most traumatic part of the entire event was when it was over", and that he was "gripped by raw moments of shock and grief". You can also receive it via email. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. ", Chimed in Zych: "We don't take anything for granted. Why the 'Miracle on the Hudson' in the new movie - The Conversation "I had reservations about going; I was hesistant," Seagle says. Is travel restricted to Mexico right now? They call themselves "1549ers", and feel as if they are members of a rare club only they can understand the extreme trauma that they have been through. [77], The Board ultimately ruled that Sullenberger had made the correct decision,[77] reasoning that the checklist for dual-engine failure is designed for higher altitudes when pilots have more time to deal with the situation, and that while simulations showed that the plane might have just barely made it back to LaGuardia, those scenarios assumed an instant decision to do so, with no time allowed for assessing the situation. Fellow passenger Barry Leonard, 69, who cracked his sternum on impact in the water landing, appreciates that bond so much he's organized annual reunions with passengers and first responders in New York City. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Sullenberger, whom he calls his "hero," has also become a friend. [95]. Since retiring as an airline pilot, Sullenberger, a former Air Force fighter pilot, has worked as a speaker on aviation safety. After all, there could be another encounter with death at any time. At least some of the passengers had planned to make the toast with Grey Goose vodka apparently a wry nod to the flock of geese that disabled the engine of the Airbus A320 on Jan. 15, 2009. Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe A.I.G. Balks at Claims From Jet Ditching in Hudson - New York Times In the mayhem of the crash they had become separated and were put on different rescue boats, and it was not until several weeks later that Bostic, 38, and Zych, 30, met for the first time. The anniversary will be marked this week with a reunion of the crew and passengers at the Carolinas Aviation Museum adjacent to the airport in. ", For Zych it is gratitude. US Airways 1549 (or to use its callsign, Cactus 1549) was scheduled from La Guardia, New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina on the afternoon of January 15th, 2009. [30], About ninety seconds later, at 3:31pm, the plane made an unpowered ditching, descending southwards at about 125 knots (140mph; 230km/h) into the middle of the North River section of the Hudson tidal estuary, at 404610N 740016W / 40.769444N 74.004444W / 40.769444; -74.004444[31] on the New York side of the state line, roughly opposite West 50th Street (near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum) in Manhattan and Port Imperial in Weehawken, New Jersey. [46] However, Sullenberger said that these computer-imposed limits also prevented him from achieving the optimal landing flare for the ditching, which would have softened the impact.[78]. Joining Leonard at the Charlotte gathering Thursday is his son, daughter-in-law, and his 10-month-old grandson, whose name is Hudson. They talked about meeting their fellow passengers and some said they had more than kept in touch. Within hours she was dead. Then something clicked in him. [81] President-elect Barack Obama said that everyone was proud of Sullenberger's "heroic and graceful job in landing the damaged aircraft".