Cold Open

It’s October 4th, 1960, on the tarmac of Boston’s Logan Airport.

On board a departing plane, Eastern Airlines flight attendant Joan Berry Hale completes a safety demonstration for the aircraft’s 67 passengers. She walks toward the lounge area in the rear of the plane and takes her seat as the pilot taxis to the runway. It’s all just a routine flight on a routine day.

As the pilot throttles up the plane’s four propeller engines, the plane lifts off, and Joan feels the familiar sensation of becoming airborne. But just six seconds after take-off, everything changes.

The plane shudders with an unusual vibration. Joan knows immediately something is wrong.

The engines don’t sound synched up, and the plane seems to be taking a left turn, even though they have only just taken off. It’s clear the pilots have no control over the plane and have no time to react.

The plane dramatically slows down. Then, as fast as it ascended into the sky, the aircraft begins to hurtle back down. Joan and her fellow crew members try to brace for impact, but they only have seconds… before the plane crashes into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Joan Berry Hale is one of only ten who will survive the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 375. In the ensuing investigation, dead birds will be found clogging three of the plane’s propeller engines, and the bodies of other birds will be found littering the runway in Boston. It’s the first major accident caused by a bird strike, but not the last.

Almost fifty years later, another bird strike will once again wreak havoc with a commercial aircraft when a flock of geese collides with US Airways Flight 1549. But this time, disaster will be averted, thanks to the experience and ingenuity of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who will land his damaged plane on the Hudson River, saving all 155 lives on board on January 15th, 2009.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is January 15th, 2009: The Miracle On The Hudson.

Act One

It’s June 3rd, 1967, in the air above Sherman, Texas, seven years after a flock of birds caused the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 375.

16-year-old Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger sits behind the controls of an Aeronca 7-DC propeller airplane. It’s a small aircraft mostly used for crop dusting with only two seats and today, they’re both occupied. Sitting next to Sully is his mentor and flight instructor, L.T. Cook Junior, who Sully respectfully calls Mr. Cook.

After a ten-minute warm-up in the air, Sully and Mr. Cook land the plane together. But once they’re back on the ground, Mr. Cook tells Sully it’s time for him to go back up. But this time, Sully will be flying solo.

A thrill runs through the 16-year-old. He’s never taken a solo flight before. Since asking Mr. Cook to give him flying lessons two months ago, Sully has received just seven hours of flying instruction. The prospect of flying on his own fills him with both excitement and fear. But he has little time to dwell on either emotion before Mr. Cook hops out of the plane and leaves Sully alone behind the control. Nervously, Sully prepares for his first solo take-off.

There is no air traffic control, and the runway is just a grass strip that Mr. Cook mows himself. The plane is so old it doesn’t even have a radio in it. But Mr. Cook believes in Sully, and helps Sully believe in himself. Sully checks the rudders, oil pressure, and then finally releases the brake. The plane accelerates down the makeshift runway and Sully’s hands tighten on his control stick as he pulls back and the plane lifts off and sails into the air.

For the young Sully Sullenberger, it’s an exhilarating moment, one he will remember for the rest of his life. And after this successful first solo flight, Sully keeps learning as much as possible from Mr. Cook, eventually, receiving his private pilot certificate.

He puts it to good use. As a teenager, flying continues to dominate Sully’s free time. He takes regular trips around rural Texas, waving to his parents below each time he passes over his childhood home. He even takes a girl on a date in a rented plane, flying with her for 45 minutes to have lunch in an Arkansas airport.

Sully’s passion leads him to make a profession out of his hobby. After high school, Sully enrolls in the Air Force Academy, and moves across the country to different Air Force Bases, completing training on different kinds of fighter planes. He also receives a degree in industrial psychology, focusing on how the human brain interacts with heavy machinery. During his Air Force training, Sully is tasked with investigating plane crashes. He interviews survivors, inspects damaged equipment, and is haunted by the human remains found near wreckage.

But through it all, Sully’s passion for flying endures. After becoming an operational fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, Sully leaves the military to become a commercial airline pilot for Pacific Southwest Airlines, based out of San Francisco. This job is a dream come true. Flying in the 70s and 80s is glamorous - passengers wear nice clothes, and awestruck kids visit the cockpit to get a little pair of wings pinned on their shirts to commemorate their first flights.

Sully also finds a new family through his career as a pilot. While at a public relations event in 1986, he meets flight attendant Lorrie Henry. Three years later, the two get married and over the next decade adopt two daughters.

But the same year Sully gains his second daughter, tragedy strikes.

Sully’s father suffers a burst gallbladder. And at first, it seems like a minor medical problem. But after it becomes infected, the elder Sullenberger is placed in intensive care for weeks. Doctors assure Sully that his father will recover, though it will be a long, painful, and difficult process. Sully takes solace in this and hopes for his father's recovery. But on the day he’s released from the hospital, Sully’s father commits suicide.

This shocking loss reshapes the way Sully looks at the world. He begins to place a higher value on life after seeing how quickly it can be taken away and for reasons he can't understand. Sully may not have been able to save his father, but he re-commits himself to cherishing life both at home and at work – though there are challenges ahead.

Just as the death of his father changes Sully, September 11th, 2001 changes the airline industry. In the aftermath of these terrorist attacks, a financial meltdown forces the airlines to make cutbacks. Sully’s salary is cut 40 percent, and his pension is terminated. When the economy crashes again in 2008, the Sullenbergers face serious economic hardship. If something doesn’t change, they may have to sell their house just to pay the bills.

But despite these headwinds and the turning fortunes of the airline industry, Sully remains as dedicated a pilot as ever—and he will need to be, as a sudden crisis puts Sully’s experience to the test, and his life—and the lives of 154 others—in danger.

Act Two

It’s January 15th, 2009.

57-year-old US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is in the familiar cockpit of his Airbus A320, ready to take off from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.

It’s been decades since Sully took his first solo flight as a teenager. But since then, Sully has accrued over 19,000 hours of flight time. He’s become an extremely experienced pilot, and in just a few minutes, Sully will have to draw on all of these years of training.

At an air traffic controller's cue, the first officer sitting next to Sully, Jeff Skiles, throttles up the two engines, sending the plane down the runway and up into the sky. Conditions look good for an uneventful flight. But less than two minutes after take-off, Sully notices something coming right toward them. Before he or Jeff can react, a flock of Canadian geese collides with the plane.

For an instant, the cockpit window is darkened by the bodies of several large birds. And then just as quickly, they’re gone. But Sully knows immediately that the plane is in trouble. He can hear the engines faltering, and the smell of the bodies of the birds being ground up by turbines. The whole aircraft begins to shudder and shake. But the most frightening sensation Sully feels is the plane slowing down. The bird strike has rendered both engines inoperable. 

Flight 1549 then begins to glide through the air powered only by momentum. As Jeff consults the checklist for emergency procedures, Sully contacts air traffic control, using US Airways’ callsign “cactus.” But he and the air traffic controller are so focused on landing the plane safely, they occasionally get the flight number wrong.

HARTEN: "Cactus 1549, turn left heading 270."

SULLENBERGER: "Ah, this, uh, Cactus 1539. Hit birds. We lost thrust in both engines. We're turning back towards LaGuardia."

The air traffic controller on duty recognizes the emergency and clears the LaGuardia runways so Sully can land. But the plane is already too low and too slow to make a U-turn. Sully needs to find another option.

SULLENBERGER: "I’m not sure we can make any runway. Oh, what’s over to our right? Anything in New Jersey, maybe Teterboro?"

Within seconds it's clear to Sully that Teterboro isn’t an option either. The plane is now only three thousand feet in the air and descending fast, a thousand feet a minute. Time is running out. Sully realizes he can’t save the aircraft, but he might still be able to save the people on board.

HARTEN: "Cactus 1529, turn right 2-8-0, you can land runway one at Teterboro."

SULLENBERGER: "We can't do it."

HARTEN: "OK, which runway would you like at Teterboro?"

SULLENBERGER: "We're gonna be in the Hudson."

Next to Sully, Jeff doesn’t second guess the improvised plan to land on the Hudson. Staying as calm and collected as possible, the two men stick to the tasks they have in front of them to prepare the plane for a water landing, doing their best to ignore the cacophony of alarms and warnings coming from the plane’s computer. Then finally as the plane lowers closer to the surface, Sully turns on the PA system and tells everyone to brace for impact.

Sully concentrates on slowing down the plane and keeping the wings level. If the plane is off balance just a little, the fuselage might rip apart. And as the plane gets lower and lower, Sully’s eyes dart back and forth between instruments, checking airspeed, attitude, and altitude.

He keeps the nose of the plane slightly up for as long as he can. Until, at just over 140 miles an hour, the tail hits the water. The rest of the plane follows cutting across the surface of the water until it eventually stops. Sully, Jeff, and everyone on board are stunned as they take stock of what just happened. They’re unharmed and the plane is intact. But their lives are still in peril.

Thanks to Sully, Flight 1549 narrowly averted disaster in the air, but now, it faces danger in the water. After landing, the 150,000-pound plane will start sinking into the freezing cold Hudson River. Sully’s priorities will shift from landing the plane to evacuating it making sure everyone gets out alive.

Act Three

It’s January 15th, 2009, in the middle of the Hudson River in New York.

Those onboard US Airways Flight 1549 scramble for safety. After slamming into the river, the plane’s lower tail section ruptured and is now filling with water.

Flight attendants open the two emergency exit doors over the wings, activating the inflatable slides and rafts. Stunned passengers climb over seats to get to the exits. But no one screams or pushes, even as they are immediately hit by the freezing cold outside. Factoring in the wind chill, it’s about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remarkably, in only three minutes, everyone gets out. But Sully lingers for a moment. He walks up and down the plane’s aisle alone, looking for anyone who might be injured or unconscious. He walks into waist-deep water, among floating coffee pots and backpacks, but finds no one. The plane is empty, and Sully is the last to depart. He hops onto a life raft with about forty other passengers, as ferry boats arrive to bring the survivors ashore.

Back on land, Sully calls his wife Lorrie and tells her he’s okay. But inside, he’s racked with doubt and fear. Perhaps he missed someone on the plane, or someone’s injuries will prove fatal.

Four hours later, still in his dripping-wet uniform, Sully learns the truth. All 155 people, passengers and crew, survived. It's only then, after the most harrowing day of his life, Sully finally feels relief.

In the days and weeks to follow, the crew of Flight 1549 experience the lows of post-traumatic stress and the highs of worldwide fame. One of the most surreal experiences comes in between the sleepless nights and flashbacks when President-elect Barack Obama invites Sully to his upcoming inauguration. Sully accepts, but with one condition: he wants the rest of the crew to be able to attend, as well. Obama agrees.

The official investigation into the accident will conclude that Sully’s decision to land on the Hudson River, rather than try to make it to an airport, “provided the highest probability that the accident would be survivable.” Investigators will hail Sully as a hero, and the crash landing will be coined “The Miracle on the Hudson.” The following year, Sully will retire from flying and be named the U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Looking back on the incident, Sully will remark that times were tough in January of 2009. The economy was collapsing, many Americans had lost their jobs or even their homes. But amid the turmoil, Sully was fortunate to provide a dose of hope and inspiration after miraculously landing a damaged plane on the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009.

Outro

Next on History Daily. January 16th, 1979. Iran’s powerful Shah abandons his throne, and flees his nation, setting the stage for the country’s Islamic Revolution.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Jack O’Brien.

Edited by Dorian Merina.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.