Captain Sully's Minute-by-Minute Description of The Miracle On The Hudson | Inc.

Summary

On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger faced the 'Miracle on the Hudson,' when US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese, causing both engines to fail. With exceptional skill and calm under immense pressure, Sullenberger made a daring water landing in the Hudson River, ensuring the survival of all 155 passengers and crew. The transcript recounts the harrowing experience, the captain's quick decisions, and the successful evacuation, highlighting the importance of teamwork and training in the face of an unprecedented crisis.

Takeaways

• 🕊️ The flight encountered an unexpected bird strike, causing both engines to fail.
• 🎥 The pilot's experience and calm under pressure were crucial in handling the emergency.
• 🚁 The initial response involved turning on the engine ignition and auxiliary power unit to try and recover engine function.
• 🛫 The pilot quickly ruled out the possibility of returning to the airport due to the lack of engine thrust.
• 🌉 The Hudson River was chosen as the best possible place for an emergency landing given the circumstances.
• 🤝 The First Officer, Jeff Skiles, collaborated seamlessly with the pilot, enhancing the decision-making process.
• 🗣️ The pilot's PA announcement was carefully chosen to convey confidence and prepare passengers for impact.
• 🛑 The use of aviation-specific vocabulary like 'brace' was essential for clear and concise communication during the crisis.
• 🛳️ The pilot's knowledge of the area facilitated a successful water landing and subsequent rescue by nearby ferries.
• 👶 The evacuation was swift and orderly, with special attention given to vulnerable passengers like the elderly and infants.
• ⏱️ It took four hours to confirm that all passengers and crew were safe, marking the end of the pilot's immediate responsibilities.

Q & A

What was the initial condition of Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009?

Flight 1549 started as a completely routine and unremarkable flight for the first 100 seconds.

How did the speaker describe the encounter with the birds?

The speaker described the encounter as sudden and shocking, with a large flock of Canada Geese filling the wind screen, causing significant damage to the engines.

What was the impact of the birds on the jet engines?

The birds caused incredibly damaging and disruptive effects on the finely balanced machinery of the jet engines, which were spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute.

What was the immediate physical response of the speaker to the engine failure?

The speaker's immediate physical response included a spike in pulse and blood pressure, and experiencing tunnel vision due to stress.

What were the speaker's first three conscious thoughts after the engine failure?

The speaker's first three thoughts were disbelief that it was happening, a realization that it wouldn't happen to him given his experience, and acceptance that this flight would likely not end on a runway with the aircraft undamaged.

How did the lack of training for water landings affect the speaker's approach to handling the situation?

Despite the lack of training for water landings, the speaker's deep knowledge of his craft and the aircraft allowed him to set clear priorities and focus on the highest priority items.

What did the speaker do immediately after realizing the engines had failed?

The speaker turned on the engine ignition in case the engines could recover and started the airplane's auxiliary power unit.

What were the three options the speaker considered for landing the aircraft?

The three options considered were two runways that were initially thought to be reachable, and the Hudson River as the only other viable option in the New York metro area.

How did the speaker's experience and knowledge of the New York area help in choosing the Hudson River as the landing site?

The speaker's familiarity with New York and his experience flying into the area allowed him to quickly assess that the Hudson River was the best possible place for the emergency landing.

What was the role of First Officer Jeff Skiles during the crisis?

First Officer Jeff Skiles collaborated wordlessly with the speaker, providing support and suggestions, and was ready to intervene if necessary, based on their shared experience and understanding of the situation.

What was the significance of the word 'brace' in the PA announcement made by the speaker?

The word 'brace' signaled to the cabin crew and passengers that an emergency landing was imminent, prompting them to prepare for impact and follow the flight attendants' commands.

How did the speaker's choice of words in the PA announcement contribute to the successful evacuation?

The speaker chose specific words to convey a vivid image of what to expect, which helped to align the crew and passengers and ensured a quick and orderly evacuation.

What was the final critical maneuver performed by the speaker and First Officer Jeff Skiles before landing?

The final critical maneuver was for the speaker to judge visually the height at which to begin raising the nose of the aircraft to achieve the proper attitude for landing on the water.

What was the outcome of the emergency landing on the Hudson River?

The aircraft landed hard but with uniform deceleration, remained intact, stable, and floating, allowing for a successful evacuation with all passengers and crew accounted for.

Outlines

00:00

🛫 The Start of a Fateful Flight

The script begins with the recounting of the initial moments of January 15, 2009, when Flight 1549 took off as a routine flight. However, within the first 100 seconds, the flight turned into a life-threatening emergency as it collided with a flock of Canada Geese, causing severe damage to both engines. The pilot describes the suddenness of the event, the physical sensations of the impact, and the immediate loss of thrust from both engines. He also reflects on his initial disbelief and the swift realization that this flight would not end as usual on a runway.

05:02

🦢 The Response to a Crisis

The pilot details his immediate response to the crisis, highlighting the importance of prioritizing actions and focusing on the highest priority tasks to manage the emergency. Despite the lack of simulator training for water landings, his deep knowledge of his craft and the aircraft allowed him to take swift and effective actions. He emphasizes the neurobiology of stress and the myth of multitasking, explaining his decision to focus on a few critical tasks rather than trying to do too much. The pilot also discusses the collaboration with his First Officer, Jeff Skiles, and how their combined experience and non-verbal communication were crucial in handling the situation.

10:05

🛬 The Hudson River Landing

The narrative continues with the pilot's decision-making process regarding the landing site, ultimately choosing the Hudson River as the only viable option in the densely populated New York metro area. He describes the intense pressure and the need for precise control as he prepared for the water landing. The pilot also recounts the importance of his communication with the cabin crew and passengers, using specific aviation vocabulary to prepare them for the emergency landing. The successful landing is described, along with the immediate actions taken for evacuation and the subsequent rescue efforts. The pilot reflects on the teamwork and the collective effort that led to the remarkable outcome of all passengers and crew surviving the ordeal.

Keywords

💡Flight 1549

Flight 1549 refers to the specific aircraft involved in the incident described in the video. It is the central subject of the narrative, illustrating the sudden transition from a routine flight to a life-threatening emergency. The script mentions that the flight initially was 'completely routine and unremarkable,' highlighting the unexpected nature of the crisis that unfolded.

💡Canada Geese

Canada Geese are the species of birds that collided with Flight 1549, causing the engines to fail. The script describes them as 'a large flock of large birds' with significant weight and wingspan, which had a catastrophic impact on the aircraft's jet engines, leading to the emergency situation.

💡Jet Engines

Jet engines are the propulsion systems of the aircraft, described in the script as 'turbines' that are 'finely balanced machinery, spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute.' The collision with the geese caused severe damage to these engines, leading to the loss of thrust and the subsequent emergency landing.

💡Thrust Loss

Thrust loss is the sudden and complete failure of the aircraft's engines to produce thrust, as a result of the bird strike. The script describes it as 'sudden, complete, symmetrical, bilaterally, both engines at once,' which signifies the critical nature of the situation and the immediate need for an alternative landing solution.

💡Water Landing

A water landing is the emergency procedure of landing an aircraft on a body of water, which was the only viable option for Flight 1549 after the engines failed. The script mentions that the crew had 'never trained for this' in flight simulators, indicating the unprecedented and challenging nature of the situation.

💡Hudson River

The Hudson River is the location where Captain Sullenberger decided to perform the water landing. It is significant as it represents the only feasible landing site in the densely developed New York metro area, as described in the script: 'the only other place in the entire New York metro area...where it might be possible to even try landing a large jet airliner.'

💡Multitasking

The concept of multitasking is addressed in the script to explain the decision-making process during the crisis. It is stated as 'a myth' because the human brain actually switches rapidly between tasks, leading to decreased effectiveness. This understanding influenced the captain's focus on high-priority actions and ignoring distractions.

💡Brace for Impact

Brace for impact is a command given by the flight crew to prepare passengers for an emergency landing. In the script, it is used to signal the imminent hard landing and to instruct passengers on how to protect themselves, as the captain says, 'Brace for impact,' initiating a chain of actions by the flight attendants.

💡Evacuation

Evacuation is the process of safely removing all passengers and crew from the aircraft after the landing. The script describes the urgency and cooperation during the evacuation, emphasizing the teamwork and quick response required to ensure everyone's survival in the cold waters of the Hudson River.

💡Neurobiology

Neurobiology is the scientific study of how the nervous system functions, which the captain references to explain his understanding of stress and decision-making under pressure. The script mentions the captain's awareness of his physiological response to stress and his knowledge of the limitations of multitasking, which influenced his actions during the crisis.

💡Team Skills

Team skills refer to the collaborative abilities and默契 that the crew displayed during the emergency. The script highlights the non-verbal communication and intuitive understanding between the captain and First Officer Jeff Skiles, which was crucial in managing the crisis effectively.

Highlights

Flight 1549 started as a routine flight but quickly turned into the worst day of the pilot's life.

The plane was traveling at 316 feet per second when the pilot spotted the birds.

Canada Geese, weighing up to 12 pounds with six-foot wingspans, struck the plane's engines and wings.

Jet engines, finely balanced machinery, were severely damaged by the bird strike.

The pilot experienced an immediate and severe physical response to the life-threatening situation.

The pilot's first thoughts were disbelief, self-doubt, and realization of a likely non-standard ending.

Despite no training for water landings, the pilot's expertise allowed him to prioritize actions effectively.

The pilot chose not to multitask, focusing on the highest priority items to ensure effective response.

The pilot took quick remedial actions by memory, turning on engine ignition and starting the auxiliary power unit.

The Hudson River was the only viable landing option in the densely developed New York metro area.

The pilot considered returning to a runway but determined it was not possible due to the situation.

The flight crew worked in unison, communicating silently and effectively based on their shared experience.

The pilot's PA announcement was carefully chosen to convey confidence and prepare passengers for impact.

The use of specific aviation vocabulary, such as 'brace', was crucial for clear communication during the emergency.

The pilot and First Officer Jeff Skiles collaborated to ensure the best possible landing approach.

The successful landing was achieved with the airplane intact, stable, and floating on the Hudson River.

The evacuation was swift and orderly, with passengers and crew assisting each other in the emergency.

The pilot's final duties were confirmed only after all passengers were accounted for and safe.

Transcripts

- January 15, 2009 started just like

10,000 other days, literally.

And Flight 1549 initially,

like all those other flights for so long,

was completely routine and unremarkable

for the first 100 seconds.

But this very suddenly, and I was aware of it at the time,

became the worst day of my life.

(slow brooding music)

We were traveling at that point 316 feet per second

so I saw the birds about thee football field lengths ahead

but not enough time to maneuver away from them.

And then they filled the wind screen

as if it were a Hitchcock film.

And this was a large flock of large birds,

The species Canada Geese, they weight eight or ten,

sometimes 12 pounds.

They have five foot or six foot wingspans.

And they struck the airplane

along the leading edges of the wings, the nose,

and into the center, the core of both jet engines.

Now jet engines are turbines.

They're finely balanced machinery

spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute

and having a ten pound object or two

go through each of them,

in the center of the core of the engine,

is incredibly damaging and disruptive.

Immediately, I could hear terrible noises

from the machinery being damaged

that I'd never heard in an airplane before.

I could feel terrible vibrations

I'd never felt on an airplane before.

And then

I received confirmation of what I believed had happened,

what I could smell coming into the cabin air,

the burning bird odor from the engines.

And then the thrust loss was sudden,

complete, symmetrical, bilaterally, both engines at once.

It felt as if the bottom had fallen out of our world

and my body responded immediately

in a very normal human way

to this sudden life-threatening stress.

I was aware that as it happened.

I could feel my pulse shoot up,

my blood pressure spike, my perceptual field narrow

in tunnel vision because of my stress.

I remember vividly my first three conscious thoughts.

This can't be happening.

Having read about many accident flights,

a very typical response rooted in disbelief.

Followed immediately by this doesn't happen to me.

In other words, for over four decades,

I had never been so challenged in an airplane

I doubted the outcome.

Followed immediately by a realization

that unlike all those other flights I'd had for 42 years,

this one probably would not end

on a runway with the aircraft undamaged.

And I was okay with that

as long as I could solve the problem.

And so even though we'd never trained for this

in our flight simulators or the airline

it as not possible to practice a water landing,

they aren't programmed for it.

The only training we'd ever gotten for a water landing

was a theoretical classroom discussion.

But because I had learned my craft so well,

I knew my airplane and my profession so intimately,

I could set clear priorities.

And so I chose to do only the highest priority items

and then I had the discipline

to ignore everything I did not have time to do

as being only distractions

and potential detriment to our performance.

You see, I'm also well read and so I knew the neurobiology.

I knew that multitasking is a myth.

That when we think we're multitasking,

what we are in fact doing is

switching rapidly between tasks,

not doing either of them well.

And so I chose not to try to do too much.

Within a few seconds, by memory I had taken

the first two remedial actions

that we would eventually get to on the checklist

over a minute later, over a third of the way

through the remaining flight time,

but I needed those actions to be effective immediately

and not to wait.

I turned on the engine ignition

so if the engines could recover, they would.

And I started the airplane's auxiliary power unit.

I knew it was only a matter of a few minutes

before our flight path intersected the surface of the Earth.

I had to choose the best possible place for that to happen.

Having flown into New York many times,

I knew that there were only three options.

There were only two runways that might be reachable.

It turned out with reaction time, they were not.

And the only other place in the entire New York metro area,

one of the most densely developed areas on the planet,

where it might be possible to even try

landing a large jet airliner would be the Hudson River.

I suspected early on that's where we would end up

but I knew I had to try to consider

at least returning to a runway if it was possible.

I took control of the aircraft,

made one distress call,

worked with the aircraft controller,

considered returning to LaGuardia,

decided it was unreachable,

considered trying to reach the Teterboro Airport

in New Jersey, across the river,

decided that was not reachable either,

and told the controller we were going to be in the Hudson.

He told me later he was shocked,

in disbelief,

and he assumed that by choosing that path,

that we would all perish

and it as an agonizing 45 minutes

until he found out that everyone had survived.

Our First Officer, Jeff Skiles,

I couldn't have had a better colleague that day or since.

In a situation where the time pressure

and the workload were so intense,

we didn't have time even to talk about what had happened

and what we should do about it.

He and I were able to collaborate wordlessly

by knowing intuitively in this developing crisis

what we should do to help the other,

based on our own long experience.

Had Jeff not also had 20,000 hours of flying time

like I did, had he not been a captain before,

had he not been so experienced,

he wouldn't have known either to do that or how to do that.

So he made an important suggestion

at several points in the flight.

He was silently cheering me on as I made each decision

but ready to intervene, to check my performance

if he thought I was making an error.

I had a chance to make only announcement in the cabin

and before I made what I knew

would be the most important PA announcement of my life,

I took what was probably an extravagant amount of time,

three or four seconds to choose my words very carefully

before I spoke.

I wanted to sound confident, not agitated,

because I knew that courage can be contagious.

And I chose specific words for specific reasons.

Fortunately, we have the advantage

of having a very well defined

and very concise aviation vocabulary,

in which there are certain single words

that are rich with meaning.

Brace is such a word.

It signals to the cabin crew, the flight attendants,

that an emergency landing is imminent

and that they should help the passengers avoid

injury during the landing

so that they'll be able to evacuate

by shouting their commands to the passengers.

And in the spur of the moment,

I chose another word

to give the passengers and crew in the cabin alike

a vivid image, a word picture of what to expect,

that without engine thrust,

we were using gravity to provide the forward motion

in the airplane.

We were descending the equivalent

in a hotel elevator descending at two floors per second.

So I knew it was going to be a hard landing.

I just didn't know how hard

because Jeff and I had never practiced this before.

So I chose the word impact

to give them that vivid image.

I said "this is the Captain.

"Brace for impact."

And immediately even through that armored cockpit door,

I could hear the two flight attendants in front,

Donna and Sheila, and I'm sure

Doreen in the back was doing the same,

begin shouting their commands in unison to the passengers.

"Brace, brace, brace.

"Heads down, stay down."

Hearing those words that day

encouraged me.

It comforted me

to know that by saying the few words I had,

but choosing the right words,

I had literally gotten my crew on the same page

and that if I could find a way

to deliver this aircraft to the surface intact,

it would float long enough

for the flight attendants to evacuate the passengers

and for New York Waterway

to send their ferries to pick us out of their water

and that was critically important on such a cold day.

The air temperature was 21, the water about 38.

Right before the landing,

I asked Jeff Skiles a question.

I said got any ideas?

Some think that was a flippant remark but it was not at all.

It was just an indication of how deeply internalized

these team skills are that I used to teach.

I was saying to him, and he understood in context

exactly what I meant,

I've done everything I can think of that can help us.

Are there any other actions that we can take,

that you can think of, that would help us succeed,

even by a fraction?

And Jeff's answer was

actually not.

And he answered just like that.

Not at all because he was being insouciant

or not because he was resigned to an ineluctable fate.

Far from it.

We were fighting to save every life to the very end.

He answered that way because he knew we'd done all we could.

The fact that we could have that exchange

just before the emergency landing of a lifetime

is one of the more remarkable things

about this flight and this crew

and our diligence, our dedication to never give up.

Just try to save every life.

To do everything we possible could.

And then finally, as we were approaching the water,

again Jeff collaborated with me wordlessly.

He knew that the final critical maneuver

was for me to try to judge visually,

looking at this featureless water train ahead,

where depth perception's inherently difficult,

the height at which to begin raising the nose,

to begin the landing,

to trade some of our forward motion

for a reduced rate of descent and touch down

and to achieve the proper slightly nose-up attitude

as we touched the water.

So Jeff began to call out to me air speed and altitude

as I was looking at the water ahead

to help me judge that critical height.

And we were coming down so rapidly,

if I misjudged any of them by a fraction,

we might start too soon and get too slow and hit hard

or start too late and descend into the water too rapidly

in the wrong attitude.

As we hit, we hit hard.

But the deceleration, well, our rapid was uniform.

And based upon the forces that Jeff and I felt

in the cockpit as slowed to the stop,

it as obvious that the airplane was intact,

it was stable, it was floating,

and people were probably still okay at that point.

And in the most amazing coincidence,

Jeff and I turned to each other at that moment,

in the same time, using the same words, said

"well that wasn't as bad as I thought".

But we weren't high-fiving.

We still had to get 155 people out of an airplane

taking on water in a river in January.

I opened the cockpit door and shouted one word, "evacuate".

The evacuation went fairly quickly.

Passengers and crew worked together

to help out an elderly woman

who had been boarded in a wheelchair.

They helped a young family of four,

including a mother with a nine-month old child.

And by the time I left the airplane as the last one off,

the New York Waterway ferries were all around us

and the rescue was well underway.

But it was an agonizing four hours

until I finally received word officially

that everyone was accounted for

and only then were my immediate duties completed

when everyone was safe.

(somber music)