Surviving Flight 1549

Surviving Flight 1549 Flight 1549 made a successful emergency landing into the Hudson River with no fatalities on January 15, 2009 due to the expertise and quick actions of the pilots, crew members, and emergency rescue workers. Katie Couric, a television journalist, conducted interviews with Captain Chesley Sullenberger, First Officer Jeff Skiles and flight attendants Donna Dent, Sheila Dail, and Doreen Welsh, along with many of the survivors, to try and understand how all 155 people aboard the plane survived as opposed to similar flights with a much different fate. The flight of 1549 was one of tragedy, and fortune. Within mere moments they went from facing imminent death to celebrating their lives. Amanda Ripley, a Time magazine reporter, and author of "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes--And Why" writes about human behavior and our bodies responses to disasters. She suggests we go through three phases when faced with a disaster: Denial, deliberation, and the decisive moment (Loc. 216). Ripley believes, depending on the disaster, the time it takes to move through these phases, directly results in your ability to survive (Loc. 215). In just five minutes time the pilots and crew went through all of these phases and lived to tell about them. Due to the pilots, crew members, and first responders experience, education, and ability to thrive under stress, everyone survived. Altogether, Sullenberger had 42 years of experience as an Air Force fighter pilot, commercial airline pilot, and emergency air flight instructor, enabling him to make life saving choices for him and every person on board Flight 1549. In his interview, Sullenberger stated, "I [noticed] there were birds, filling the entire windscreen, from top to bottom, left to right, large birds, close, too close to avoid" ("Routine Takeoff"). He remembers hearing the deafening sounds, and smelling the horrible stench. Both told of critical damage being done to the plane.