Flight 1549 on letterman

here we go as the pilot and co-pilot of US Airways flight 1549 our first guests managed to feat unprecedented in aviation history and emergency water landing which saved the lives of every passenger and crew member on board please welcome to hero's captain Chesley Sully Sullenberger the third and first officer Jeffrey Skiles gentlemen come on out thank you very much and thank you again and thank you again what do I call you I call you captain do I call you Chesley do I call you Sully well you know where the name like Chesley Sully is just gonna have to happen alright and Geoffrey I call you Jeff Jeff alright good welcome to the program hmm tell me about how many hours you have as a pilot well actually you know Jeff has a few more than I do is there a somebody is she's just over 20,000 I'm just under 20,000 whoa so a combined time a seat time flying 40,000 hours and and in that time individually or collectively any emergency circumstances prior to this day a few nothing like this in fact before the 15th I'd never experienced an actual engine failure in an airplane I've ever flown before in all of those hours and all of those years fly well and how about you Jeff I've had an engine failure but just one at a time yeah well good plan but I think that speaks to the obvious which is aviation is an incredibly sophisticated incredibly safe way to travel and two guys who have got a combination of that number of hours to have experienced minor glitches is just testament to that isn't it it really is and I expected that to continue yeah now when you took off the whole thing we have the timeline here we'll go through the timeline in a little bit but tell us about the the aircraft a320 big airplane yes it made made by Airbus yes and is it comparable to like a 737 more or less yet this one is more or less that we fly three different variants and the largest variant the a320 one is about the size of a Boeing 757 and anything in particular about this aircraft that that lend itself to what you needed to do with it you know it's a fly-by-wire airplane it has a lot of computer protections for the flight envelope but III think it was a pretty conventional flying airplane in this episode and plenty of wing space for standing passengers in the river yeah that was not a problem there no pushing no shoving we got plenty of space and have you heard from the Airbus people about this event have they talked to you at all about it well you know I understand that we have been extended the entire crew and invitation to visit the manufacturer and France and and do these things are they designed to float as long as this one floated we were very glad that this one remained it yeah right I did yeah and it was was there something that you a mistake after it's in the water it was there a mistake that could have been made that would have violated the integrity of the the the fact that it would float I I think one of the apt entry doors was opened a little bit and it was difficult to reclose and get the sealed right you're looking around and as I understand it and we'll talk to the women or flight attendants that actually an aggressive eager passenger and that would have been me by the way honey at that damn door got to the door I think it will State Martin who did that but that would have and could could that have potentially been made the task of rescue even harder if that door had remained open yes yeah it's just an unbelievable thing to conjure and the the number of people 155 you're at an altitude of what 3,200 feet sure that way I'm told that was the highest height that we attained yeah so the engines are still functioning up to 3,200 feet I think we probably continued beyond the point where the engines failed a little bit higher and before we began to descend right just the momentum was able to give a little more altitude as the face right and in terms of birds are you alerted by anybody on the ground that there have been reports of flocks of geese or birds in the air so look out or doesn't that happen the only reports that we get are usually routine reports to in general be on the lookout but there was no specific warning about this right and who makes the jet aircraft jet engines on this aircraft it's made by a consortium of GE and CFM and France right and these machines are so sophisticated and the tolerance is micro micro billionth of an inch literally well how is it that a bird can cause one to shut it down well the I mean the birds it's a big bird and the engines spin very fast it knocks a couple those fan blades out it's just the vibration that there is the engine apart and has has I'm sure people have looked into this but can they be affixed with the screens to protect the birds from being ingested by the blades that will cause a dramatic amount of drag on the front of the engine and you probably have to have a much more powerful engine to make up for it right but a lot of people have written to us and suggested that yeah I haven't the first one oh I've got a look left I sleep I know what you're saying you're saying I'm gonna fuke know who knows that but that complete with drawings I've got I got some I got some drawings upstairs of this why I can't thank you guys enough for being here Ben and I kind of feel you must be are you tired of going around and telling your story or is this all part of working through it emotionally I'm more than tired of telling this yeah of course Jeff told me in the days afterward I just want my old life back yeah and and you guys this happened on the Thursday you guys just met in the cockpit I guess on the Monday another Monday yeah we're not met before and now have bonded forever and it's a yeah it's a good thing you seem to get along yeah I don't know and I I think that you know anytime somebody's even in a small traffic accident you go into a bit of shock were you guys in shock are you still in shock is there a post-traumatic stress we're dealing with here you know each of us all five of us have experienced some of those typical symptoms it's just human nature you you have trouble sleeping you have the flashbacks the distracted thoughts all those things Jeff uh how are you doing oh absolutely but of course going to the inauguration a Super Bowl and of course David Letterman helped you get over it it's a big trick that's right well we do what we can let me write back with Captain Sullenberger and take yeah well let's do you mind going through this again 325 48 p.m. flight 1549 begins its takeoff roll at LaGuardia at that point everything's fine yeah norm and you're headed for Charleston that's Charlotte Charlotte yeah three 2701 p.m. this is a minute 13 seconds at 3,200 feet so this happened like a minute after you're taking off bird strike loses power in both engines you've got more information than we have he's the first we're hearing of this yeah oh I got the whole thing and you have two of those yeah I can get you a copy of this all right so they at that point you take over the aircraft and then it's your job to try and restart those engines is that correct that's true I failed and and it gave the whole mission a black eye it it's hard to get good help yeah is it typically can you can you restart an engine after to the bird or not we haven't hit a lot of birds in our past you really have a lot of experience with it yeah so you're doing everything you can and and you now are responsible for flying the aircraft looking for a place to land is that pretty much out work so Sully you know as the captain no matter what happens is always your fault yeah so 3:27 the thirty six pm this is a minute 48 seconds into the flight you contact a ATC air traffic control this is a cactus what is cactus 1549 you said 39 what is cactus what is that callsign designate you know some companies use the actual company name is the radio call sign and some companies use some other word that's the the callsign that we've been using for a while okay so now you're still at about 3200 feet and you know you got no power and you're thinking you can get back to LaGuardia is that a reasonable thought or not well we were considering every possibility at that moment we this happened suddenly yeah and the only two nearby airports were LaGuardia right or Teterboro here and we quickly determined that that neither was an option that we were at too low an altitude too far from the runway at two lowest speed and didn't have enough energy to glide back there and I couldn't afford to be wrong the trying to make a Roma we couldn't reach could have had catastrophic consequence absolutely so this is a combination of a great fortune and great skill merging in to avoid one catastrophic circumstances you point out I was very grateful for the outcome yeah what is your airspeed at this point and what do these things glide at all is there there must be some bit of a glide ratio right yeah if they glide pretty well and in a normal landing you're gliding usually with some engine thrust so we were descending it at faster than a normal right because we had no engines right and the sensation for the people in back would it have been oh the bottom is dropping out or would it have seemed more or less like a normal approach initially the thrust loss was so sudden you could feel the the slowing of the momentum of the airplane yeah but after that we settled into a gentle glide what gentle glide Oh oh my god okay then at 3:28 p.m. snacks and beverages were served no that's no that's not I'm sorry so right away everybody knows there's trouble everybody is focused on you guys and you're cleared to get back to LaGuardia and you said we may end up in the Hudson yes yeah 3:29 Sullenberger clears the George Washington Bridge by roughly a thousand feet oh my god it's better than zero for yeah sure yeah any thanks right now if this had been a normal landing on a runway you would not have had time enough to prepare for that landing is that correct if it was a normal landing you would have not had time oh I think we would have but this was definitely a time critical operation right right it was and well at what speed now you're a thousand feet above the George Washington Bridge you're getting ready to land what what is critical I've always been told that if you land on water there's a good likelihood that the rear part of the fuselage will will snap up because of the impact is is that a fantasy is that a myth is that nothing well you know we've all seen the video of the 767 ditching off the coast of Africa and I was determined to avoid that so it was important that when we touched the water the wings be exactly level right let the nose be slightly up that the descent rate be acceptable and that would be just above our minimum flying speed but not below it and and that flying speed is just about what when you hit the water you know I would want to guess I haven't seen all the data but it would be in the 150 to 160 mile per hour range and landing on a cement or hard service you're landing it of just about 130 140 right in that range no it would be this would be near a typical landing speed for that way your typical landing and and so then you you roll to a stop and you can use as much as a mile of actual runway with one of these plans exactly and and and when the thing hit did it did it skip did it bounce off the water or did it just kind of hit and then snug in you know I have seen the video and it seems like it it stayed on the water and the nose gradually came down Wow could you do it again I'll pay for the fuel let's try it and and what now now your job is pretty much done you can't get the engines restarted what what are you doing in there in the right seat what are your activities at this point I'm pretty much just paralyzed with terror at that yeah and you you you train for the water landing but but I'm told that among pilots the water landing is almost a bit of a yeah okay water landing but good luck it well doesn't have any pretty minimally we have to do every year you have to review something one of the big things is 6:00 in my mind is they say you have to land on the backside of a swell I have no idea which side of this well at the backside fortunately there weren't any swells in the Hudson River that a lot of a swell backside now I'm guessing that the fact that it was the Hudson although is pretty good current or running south there it probably better than landing in ocean water right yes yeah except it stinks yeah hey oh my god yeah so the whole thing began and ended in about 10 minutes and then now the the first fairy a boat I guess to arrive there took about four or five minutes to get there they they tell me that you were actually looking for a shipping activity to have people get right on top of you the rescue effort flawless had to have been flawless right I understand that they have monthly drills is that right - it's in September 11th to do just this sort of thing and that was crucial so again it's another factor that just fell right into place for everybody by the time Jeff and I left the aircraft they're already boats around the airplane yeah and it was it true that you turned over to Sully and said you know we practice these we practice these but we know it's impossible but you just landed on the water yes yeah man what a feeling that must have been what a feeling but then again kind of the nightmare sort of resets itself we got to get 155 people out of this thing and and and but you say that typically it would float long enough to support that if it's intact and we were able to land and keep the airplane right but it did rupture the holes in the fuselage we're open by the impact is that correct underneath yes and how hard what was the impact for you guys was it hitting the waters hard it's it's it's more of an impact than touching a runway yeah oh my god all right we'll be right back and we're going to bring out the rest of the crew of the flight 1549 everybody we all right here we go our next guest we're also vitally instrumental in saving the lives of all 155 people on board please welcome three more heroes the flight attendants from US Airways flight 1549 Doreen Welsh Donna Dent and Sheila Dale kids come on huh there you go standing thank you for all being here a Doreen Donna and Sheila how long you been flying for US Airways 38 years 38 years 26 26 28 oh my goodness and yeah again any anything for anybody close to an emergency and all those years you've been flying I think that can even be compared to this so I'm gonna say no yeah yeah this is this is a pretty high bar to be a shooting for uh and this doesn't have anything to do with landing in the Hudsons but if passengers have just gotten worse and worse haven't they just aren't they awful just pushing and shoving and lousy and mean and nasty well I've perhaps you can't comment um how's everybody doing we doing all right yeah and it was their trauma a shock of a post-traumatic stress that we experienced some of that were you in shock at the time didn't know it what was what was the feeling like David Letterman yeah if that's the first of all right now help me out here how was the the responsibility of the inside of the aircraft divided up you were in the tail section but toward the end there you guys were closer to the front yeah it was a were literally three minutes into this flight did somebody know something was wrong what did you experience well I thought that like we'd said on a lot of shows that we hit something or an engine went out or something you could hear it there was an audible their impact oh yeah yeah then I thought we would just circle around and Sally would take us back to LaGuardia we'd get a fixed and then go right right and that pretty much what everybody yes because this was out of the routine but something that was in your minds fixable right yeah and then what happened to change that impression well I whispered to uh to Donna I said what was that and she said I think it was a bird strike which I'd never experienced so she had and just just the way the the airplane was just kind of gliding along and it was very quiet so it was like okay this is you know maybe could be bad right where were the word that were the passengers aware of the initial impact did they hear it as well I don't know that they heard the impact I definitely heard that it was silent yeah yeah it was uh and I and uh whenever I fly even without a bird strike it's it's it's always near panic for me how did the group behave immediately my they had a well-behaved group not that mine where they were more nervous and more anxious and they started the cell phone calls and I yeah I understood that uh screaming crying wailing not in the front be people running around anybody no they were all on their seat it was quick so everybody was still strapped in yeah so one half has to believe that in that circumstance everybody in that plane with the exception of you five here probably went into an immediate version of some kind of shock or terror alert we're probably right problem yeah so you secure the cabin what what what are your responsibilities now when you realize we're making an emergency landing of some form there was a time it was their time mm-hmm and we were still secured from we just took off so you know they hadn't started their iPods and oh I hope that you know so are you are you are you folk still in jump seats is that where you guys are and waiting now procedurally to hear from the cockpit is that what happens you're not allowed to talk to the cockpit in a situation like this we're not supposed to yeah yeah so what was the first thing you heard from the cockpit brace for impact brace for impact now ever hear that before coming out of a cockpit yeah ever ever hear that in any other aspect of your lives I don't know let's take the show away from me but brace for impact is something you've trained for you know what that means and and and so then what do you do you start screaming brace brace brace is that what happens yeah and did did the passengers know how to respond to that mine did which was I you know I had the rowdy group earlier but they didn't know how to respond right because they were all in there somebody read their card what is it a bunch boy and people will be reading that in the event of a water landing card now like it's the Old Testament won't they but what it what is it about your group that you they I'm getting the sense that you had the like the problem kids back there what well the back of the airplane was always more active and fun I don't know they got on first they were arrested you know I remember years ago whenever the smoking section was back there they picked those little signs front half was quiet and everybody else was having drinks and third they're all crazy it's the life that without the smoke well that's great all right we'll be right back with the crew of flight 1549 everybody chicken a fan doreen wealth did anybody of the three of you know that you were landing in water no I thought we were headed back to the airport and um you know I kept the water kept getting closer but that's the way it is you know round LaGuardia yeah so I was waiting for okay you know hit the runway and yeah so when did the realization of what actually happened hit when Sally said evacuate mm-hmm and and we looked out the door and saw the water right that that must have been incredibly disorienting especially after the trauma of what had preceded it right but we could have still been on a runway watching here yeah yeah so you you were hopeful that this was was gonna be water surrounding a uh yeah of a funnel that's right live in a puddle uh and and so it in in the back is that where the door was opened one of your buddies open the back door one of my people yeah what what happened there well I got up you know looked out and had no idea and saw the water and had that I take it one second huh yeah and then I when I turned around to start directing everybody she just bulldoze by me and I'm panicked then I do understand but I mean she just started grabbing everything and cracked that door open and I just grabbed her right tossed her aside there you go I've dreamed about 438 here unfortunately wrong circumstances now what was we talked to earlier - a Sully and Jeff about this but was that breach of the door a potentially catastrophic should that door have remained closed to support the integrity of the buoyancy of the aircraft well that I just know it should stay closed keep the water out yeah yeah I guess I guess yeah I see yeah five of you here scared not scared you go into automatic it becomes cursory it becomes a part of the training what happens what are the feelings concerned concerned busy and busy and you you're back there's our five petrified yeah because I understand that you were a waste chest deep in in water and in the front it wasn't quite so bad is that correct yeah and was that because your friend had opened the door that there was yes dad so so with so without that door being opened you wouldn't have had the sensation of drowning imminently oh my god Wow say is what I'm talking about passengers I mean what is wrong with them so how do we now get 155 people out of this aircraft well done and she looking to this did their their part up front with the rafts then what they were supposed to do they they had the whole normal evacuation like we practiced in training right but you you got kind of got to push people out of the water up he had a whole other show nothing I was ever well I mean if perhaps you had that circumstance because you were qualified to handle it you know you ever look at it like that that not so much that's a month well it's just crazy and then one guy comes up to somebody in their underwear who was the guy that came up come I don't know who he was yes Isis hard he thought he was gonna have to swim so he took off his clothes that's me that would have been me hell I just I girls I'm swimming in gonna meet later for drinks boy it's just there aren't enough words to articulate this experience and looking back are we alright we're gonna be alright we're all gonna fly again looking forward to flying again I really I don't know yet yeah yeah I'm still getting over sitting next to you so I you know I made that day by there well congratulations this is the crew from flight 1549 did I get that right as a 1549 the guard was Doreen Welsh Donna Dent Sheila Dale captain Sullenberger and the first officer Jeffrey Skiles gentlemen ladies thank you very much nice job the heartless bastards everybody you

Channel: Alon Kunigis

Views: 1,219,292

Keywords: flight 1549 letterman

Id: B-Az3G7ZmX4

Length: 28min 39sec (1719 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 14 2016