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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been ten years since Captain Chesley \u201cSully\u201d Sullenberger managed to miraculously land a US Airways on the Hudson River in what has since become known as the \u201cMiracle On The Hudson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s been a decade, the audio from Sullenberger\u2019s cockpit is still as harrowing to listen to as ever.<\/p>\n
On the afternoon of January 15, 2009, US Airways flight 1549 collided with a flock of Canadian geese, knocking out both of the plane\u2019s engines. Realizing that he could not make it back to LaGuardia Airport, former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Sullenberger was able to save the lives of everyone onboard the plane by landing in the Hudson River.<\/p>\n
Though no lives were lost in the incident, it is still chilling to listen to the cockpit audio.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is Cactus 1549. Hit birds. We\u2019ve lost thrust in both engines. We\u2019re turning back to LaGuardia,\u201d Sullenberger tells the air traffic controller, calmly adding, \u201cWe may end up in the Hudson.\u201d<\/p>\n
The air traffic controller responds by saying that Sullenberger is cleared to make an emergency landing at LaGuardia, but the captain replies that he is \u201cunable.\u201d The controller then says that the flight can land at nearby Teeterboro airport in New Jersey, but Sullenberger responds by saying, \u201cWe can\u2019t do it. We\u2019re gonna be in the Hudson.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCactus 1549, radar contact is lost,\u201d the recording chillingly ends.<\/p>\n
In a second recording, the controller calls in emergency services.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet me a police department helicopter . . . right now,\u201d he can be heard saying. \u201cYou get anybody. You send them right to the Lincoln Tunnel. We had a cactus Airbus go down in the water . . . He went down in the river [up near] the Intrepid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now 67, Sullenberger has since been hailed as a hero, becoming arguably the most famous pilot in the world. Initially, he had a hard time dealing with the hero label.<\/p>\n
\u201cI resisted the H word initially,\u201d he said in 2016. \u201cBut I certainly have grown to understand people\u2019s need to feel the way they feel about this event and, by extension, about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullenberger remains in touch with many of the passengers that he saved to this day.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI never had any extraneous thoughts in those few seconds that we had. I didn\u2019t allow myself to and I didn\u2019t have any inclination to. I never thought about my family. I never thought about anything other than controlling the flight path and solving each problem in turn until, finally, we had solved them all,\u201d Sullenberger added on the ten year anniversary. \u201cI think about not only what we did but what everybody else did. All the pieces had to come together. This group of strangers had to rise to the occasion and make sure that they saved every life.\u201d<\/p>\n