- 6/7/2025
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TVTranscript
00:01An airliner is crippled after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport.
00:06Brace for impact.
00:09Another catastrophic failure strikes high above the Canadian prairies.
00:14Just lost both engines. I'm talking to a dead man.
00:18And a violent thunderstorm wreaks havoc on a Boeing 737 over the Gulf of Mexico.
00:23Everything went black, all the alarms start sounding.
00:27Free planes headed for disaster.
00:30And no one's going to be able to reach up and grab you and bring you safely back.
00:34Where do I put this thing down?
00:36The survival of the passengers lies in the hands of the men and women in the cockpit.
00:41I guess I'll just slip it. Here we go.
00:45This is it. We're going to be in Larson.
00:48Brace for landing.
00:57Vem
01:01One down.
01:02One down.
01:03Passing up.
01:04One down.
01:05All right.
01:06One, two, two.
01:07Two, three, two, five, six, six.
01:08Captain Chesley Sullenberger is an experienced pilot with U.S. Airways.
01:16Captain Chesley Sullenberger is an experienced pilot with US Airways
01:25Today he's on board flight 1549
01:29Clear to push
01:31The 57-year-old commander has served as a commercial pilot for over 29 years
01:38Your brakes, your aircraft
01:41First officer Jeffrey Skiles is 49
01:45He's fresh out of pilot training
01:4828, brakes released
01:50Spot 28 for Cactus 1549
01:53150 passengers are on board an Airbus A320 departing New York's LaGuardia Airport
02:02Cactus 1549, runway 4, clear for takeoff
02:06Cactus 1549, clear for takeoff
02:09First officer Skiles is at the control
02:15This flight to Charlotte, North Carolina marks the final leg of a four-day sequence of flights for both men
02:26We made our standard call-outs, it was just a normal takeoff, normal procedures on the climb out
02:33There was absolutely nothing at all to indicate that this would be any different than any other takeoff in my entire career
02:40Gear up, please
02:42Gear up, please
02:43Gear up
02:45Patrick Harton is one of the controllers handling traffic out of LaGuardia today
02:50He has one of the most stressful jobs in the world
02:53When I sit down in front of a radar, I am responsible for every person on every airplane under my control
03:01Cactus 1549, New York departure, radar contact, climb and maintain one 5,000
03:07The flight will climb northeast out of LaGuardia and then begin a slow turn south towards Charlotte
03:14It was just a normal departure, just another flight that I've handled a million times
03:21Riding the thrust of two general electric engines, the aircraft powers into the sky
03:29Cactus 1549, 700 climbing 5,000
03:34Flight 1549 is travelling at almost 400 kilometres an hour
03:39It's been in the air for just a minute and a half
03:42I caught something out of the corner of my eye
03:45And slightly to our right, but still ahead of us, was a line of birds
03:49And they were very, very close, too close for us to manoeuvre around
03:53And that fast, we were just on top of them
03:57Clay Presley is one of 150 passengers on board flight 1549
04:04You can just feel the power of the plane going forward
04:08And then all of a sudden, there was this gigantic boom
04:11It seemed like it stopped in midair, like you hit a brick wall
04:15Oh my God, the engine's on fire
04:17And then all of a sudden, somebody said, the left engine's on fire
04:20Uh-oh
04:22Before we could even assess the situation
04:24We got one roll, both of them rolling back
04:27Both engines rolled back to idle
04:29Ignition's start
04:30Sullenberger takes control of the struggling plane
04:34My aircraft
04:38Your aircraft
04:40Get the QRH
04:42Loss of thrust in both engines
04:44The QRH, or Quick Reference Handbook
04:47Is a step-by-step guide to dealing with emergencies
04:51Mayday, mayday, mayday
04:53This is Cactus 1549
04:54Hit birds, we've lost thrust in both engines
04:56We're turning back towards LaGuardia
04:58Okay, you need to return to LaGuardia
05:00Turn left, heading 220
05:02220
05:03What I'm thinking is, you know, we're just going to have to restart an engine
05:07Thrust levers
05:08Confirm idle
05:10Following the handbook, First Officer Skiles executes an engine restart attempt
05:15Idle
05:16The procedure is to try to restart the engines
05:19And I always had faith we could do that
05:21Airspeed optimum relay
05:24300 knots
05:25We don't have that
05:28We don't
05:30Okay, Cactus 1549
05:32If we can get it for you, we'll try and land on runway 13
05:34We're unable
05:36We're unable
05:38The conversations with Captain Sullenberg were very short and to the point
05:42Which was very appropriate for the emergency
05:45He had his hands full flying the airplane
05:47So my job is just to move on to the next option
05:50All right, Cactus 1549, it's going to be traffic for runway 31
05:54Unable
05:55Harton still wants the jet to return to LaGuardia Airport
05:59But flight 1549 is now just 1,400 feet above the ground
06:04Cactus 1549, runway 4 is available
06:06If you want to make left, traffic runway 4
06:08I'm not sure we can make any runway
06:10What's to our right?
06:11Anything in New Jersey, Teterboro?
06:13Okay, yeah, off to your right side is Teterboro Airport
06:16You want to try to go to Teterboro?
06:18Yes
06:20Teterboro is a small airport on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River
06:25But it's several kilometers away
06:27And without their engines, flight 1549 is dropping fast
06:32I looked at it and I stopped and I was kind of concerned that he was actually going to try for it
06:36I didn't think we could make it
06:38Captain Sullenberger needs to decide what to do
06:41If the plane's engines don't restart, he won't make it to Teterboro
06:45Go ahead, try number one
06:47While the crew struggles to restart the engines on their stricken plane
06:51No relay light
06:52Controller Patrick Harton is still trying to find them a runway
06:56Hey Cactus 1549, you can land runway 1 at Teterboro
06:59Can't do it
07:01We're going to be in the Hudson
07:03I'm sorry, say again Cactus?
07:05I could hear him, but my mind really didn't want to comprehend those words
07:08We're going to be in the Hudson
07:09That was a death sentence for him
07:11And I didn't want to accept the fact that it was over and there were no more options left
07:17So you're sitting there very quietly
07:19People are anxiously waiting for information
07:22And they wanted reassurance that things were going to be okay
07:27You could hear that microphone come on
07:30This is the captain
07:32Captain Sullenberger prepares the passengers for what's ahead
07:35We're hoping he was going to say
07:37We're hoping he was going to say
07:38I've got this under control
07:39We're going to be okay
07:40We're going to make it
07:41We're going to turn around and go back and land
07:43That's what you were hoping to hear
07:45Brace for impact
07:47What does he mean, brace for impact?
07:49And then all of a sudden it registered
07:51I think he's saying we're going to crash
07:54Okay
07:55Let's go
07:58Put the flaps out
08:01I thought to myself
08:04Great, the Hudson River was our best opportunity
08:06It was really the only thing in sight where we could land this airplane
08:09Got flaps out
08:11250 feet in the air
08:13I started calling out air speeds and altitudes
08:16170 knots
08:18To give him a situational awareness of what was going on
08:22Got flaps too
08:24You want more?
08:25No
08:26Let's stay at two
08:29Below 300 feet
08:31Patrick Harkin's radar can't see the plane
08:34Flight 1549 disappears
08:38When the aircraft disappeared off my radar
08:41I just assumed that there weren't going to be any survivors
08:44In the cabin, the passengers prepare for disaster
08:48Head down
08:50You ready at the doors?
08:51Head down
08:52The folks at the door says we're ready
08:54We're ready
08:55I was just scared to death
08:58Pull up
08:59We're going to brace
09:01Pull up
09:02The rain
09:03Looked like the airplane was going right for the bottom of the Hudson River
09:14All we saw was water cascading over the windshield
09:18It was like a tornado
09:21Pieces of the plane were being torn apart
09:24Some people were thrown around pretty good
09:26Then the airplane popped up
09:32And it was just sort of gently rocking in the waves
09:42We all just sat there
09:44We were all in shock and we were waiting for what's next
09:48U.S. Airways Flight 1549 was in the air for just 5 minutes and 8 seconds
10:01Having made a remarkable landing
10:03The passengers and crew now face a new danger
10:07The ice-cold water of the Hudson is pouring into the cabin
10:11The crew of Flight 1549 has just performed an extremely difficult feat of aviation
10:21But they still have more work to do
10:25Captain Sullenberger heads for the cabin
10:27While First Officer Skiles shuts down the plane
10:31I stayed behind and did the evacuation checklist
10:34And so it was probably about 45 seconds before I actually went back myself in the cabin after we landed
10:41The $75 million plane is quickly filling with freezing water
10:49That water was cold
10:51People said, get the doors open, get the doors open
10:55Passengers nearest the exits open the doors quickly
10:59While Sullenberger and the cabin crew begin managing the evacuation
11:03And so I work my way out onto the wing, just a few steps to start with
11:06Skiles heads back to help the crew in the cabin get passengers out of the sinking plane
11:14Sully and I were getting seat cushions and life vests when we were passing them out
11:20Come forward! Is there anybody here?
11:24We were very confident there was nobody left on the airplane
11:27But what was going on on the wings, you know, we just had no idea
11:31Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles are the last ones off the plane
11:36I just saw the big splash when the plane just bounced over the water
11:42Small commercial airline crashed into the water
11:45They've been in the water more than 10 minutes already
11:46Emergency services scramble to evacuate the passengers from the sinking plane
11:54The rescue is broadcast live across the United States
11:59The entire nation looks on as passengers and crew of Flight 1549 are brought to safety
12:06US Airways pilot made an incredibly skillful emergency landing in the Hudson River
12:12Authorities compare a list of 155 rescued people with the manifest
12:19And miraculously no one is missing
12:23For investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, it's an unusual situation
12:34Normally their main task is to uncover the cause of a crash
12:38With Flight 1549, the cause seems obvious
12:44Birds!
12:46The original mayday call was clear
12:49Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Cactus 1549, hit birds
12:53I think everybody realized that a bird strike had occurred
12:57What people didn't know was what kind of birds brought the aircraft down
13:01Whether it might have been a combination of a bird strike plus something else
13:07Whether the crew acted and flew the aircraft as they should have
13:11Tests confirm that Canada geese ingested into Flight 1549 ripped apart the engine's compressors
13:20Metal shards from these broken compressors were sucked deep into the cores of both engines, shutting them down
13:26We've lost thrust in both engines, we're turning back towards LaGuardia
13:30Despite the safe outcome of Captain Sullenberger's heroic landing
13:35There's one question that nags investigators
13:38We're gonna be in the Hudson
13:40Did Sullenberger really have to land the Airbus in the Hudson River?
13:44This is the captain
13:45Or could he have made it to a runway?
13:47Brace for impact
13:48Using a flight simulator, investigators study Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles actions in the moments after their plane collided with birds
14:01Ignition
14:02We wanted to know, did the pilots do the right thing? Was there enough energy to make it back to LaGuardia?
14:08When we took into consideration the decision-making process that Captain Sullenberger went through
14:12We realized that it was not possible to make it back to the airport
14:17We're gonna be in the Hudson
14:19Putting the plane in the Hudson was the right call
14:22Sullenberger didn't have enough altitude to glide to either LaGuardia or Teterboro airports
14:28We had a very experienced flight crew with very good training
14:32The accident accelerates development of avian radar
14:37A technology that could help pilots evade flocks of birds
14:41It's a tool that may have prevented the crisis over the Hudson
14:46But it's the supreme piloting skills in the cockpit of flight 1549 that saved lives in the end
14:56My aircraft
14:57All your training that you've done
15:00It all just comes back to you when you need it
15:03With the safety board
15:05We don't really deal in miracles very often
15:07But this event had a lot of things that came together at the right time and the right place
15:11And so a lot of us are thinking, well, maybe we do have a miracle here
15:16Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles are celebrated as aviation heroes
15:22But both pilots are quick to deflect any praise
15:27These gentlemen will look you in the eye and say, I'm not a hero
15:30Well, yeah, they are and yet they don't think of themselves that way
15:34They never stopped flying the airplane
15:36They didn't give up
15:38That to me is heroism
15:39A Canadian flight crew faces a disastrous situation
15:48How come I have no instruments?
15:50Nobody can predict everything that may go wrong with an aircraft
15:55Okay, checklist
15:56Checklist
15:57If the checklist does not cover the situation you're in
16:00Then it's going to need a little bit of free thinking from the crew's point of view
16:05I guess I'll just slip it
16:07Sometimes that means committing to an unthinkable emergency landing
16:11High above the Canadian prairies
16:15Air Canada Flight 143 carrying 61 passengers is just past the halfway mark from Montreal to Edmonton, Alberta
16:28The captain on this flight is Bob Pearson
16:31He's 48 years old and he spent more than 15,000 hours in the air
16:35His first officer is Maurice Quintal, who has more than 7,000 hours of flying time
16:42We had departed heading northwest, a nice clear sunny day
16:48We're a flight plan of 39,000 feet
16:52The crew may have accumulated a lot of hours in the air, but very few in this plane
16:57It's Boeing's latest and most advanced wide-body jet, the 767
17:02The plane has only 150 hours on it
17:07This is a new aircraft for both the captain and I
17:12At the time I had 75 hours on that airplane, so everything was new for me
17:17Pilots and maintenance crews are both still getting to know this airliner
17:23One of the passengers on board is off-duty Air Canada maintenance engineer Rick Dion
17:28He's orienting himself to the new aircraft
17:31He's orienting himself to the new aircraft
17:33Fuel pressure? Why would that be? Oh
17:35A warning alerts the crew to critically low pressure at one of the plane's fuel pumps
17:37Something's wrong with the fuel pump?
17:39The low pressure warning could mean that one of the pumps needs maintenance
17:42But it could also be a more serious issue, a lack of fuel to be pumped
17:43A forward fuel pump?
17:44It's just a bloody pump failing, I can tell you that
17:45Then another low fuel pressure warning sounds
17:46This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
17:49This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
17:50This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
17:51It's just a bloody pump failing, I can tell you that
17:53Then another low fuel pressure warning sounds
17:55This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
17:56This seemed quite abnormal, that two pumps would fail
17:59It's just a bloody pump failing, I can tell you that
18:00This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
18:03This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
18:07This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
18:12This one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
18:19This seemed quite abnormal, that two pumps would fail in a brand new airplane
18:27We had some kind of a problem that we didn't understand
18:31It might be low on the left tank
18:33Captain Pearson knows that if the left tank is running low, the right tank may be low as well
18:40What was that?
18:46And then, a fuel warning sounds confirming that flight 143 is in fact running out of fuel
18:59Without power from the engines, the emergency worsens
19:03How come I have no instruments?
19:10Our beautiful coloured engine and flight instrument displays simply went black
19:19The crew is still more than 700 miles away from their original destination, Edmonton, Alberta
19:26They contact the closest air traffic control centre to help them find the nearest landing strip
19:32Winnipeg Centre, Air Canada 143
19:36Air Canada 143, go ahead
19:38Just lost both engines
19:40When both engines shut off, I think you said, holy, I'm talking to a dead man
19:48We have you at 45 miles from Gimli
19:52That is a long runway
19:54Is there emergency equipment at Gimli?
19:58The closest option for an emergency landing is a decommissioned air force base in Gimli, Manitoba
20:06Negative emergency equipment at all, just one runway available I believe
20:15And no control tower and no information on it
20:18It's a highly dangerous move
20:21There's no control tower at Gimli
20:24And no emergency services
20:27We're going to go there
20:29We're going to go there
20:30We were trained in the simulator to handle a single engine failure
20:36We had never practised total engine failures
20:39But as the plane gets closer to the Gimli runway, Bob Pearson realises he's much too high above it to land safely
20:48We're too close, huh?
20:50It's going to be too steep, too fast
20:52Yeah, I know
20:54I know
20:55In a normal approach, we have leading edge and trailing edge flaps
21:01Which allow us to slow the airplane down and fly at a slower speed safely
21:06We did not have those flaps as they run off the main hydraulic system
21:11If he comes down at a normal descent rate, he'll miss the landing strip
21:17But if he comes down steeply, his plane will gather a dangerous amount of speed
21:23He won't be able to stop before the end of the runway
21:27Well, I guess I'll just slip it
21:31Pearson decides to try a manoeuvre called a side slip
21:34Practically unheard of on commercial airliners
21:37But sometimes used by glider pilots
21:40Even though Bob Pearson has a lot of experience flying gliders
21:44He has never performed this manoeuvre
21:46I'm just going to slip it down until we're almost down at the runway
21:49Then I'll straighten it out
21:51Okay
21:52Side slipping involves what's known as crossing the controls
21:56Here we go
21:57Pearson forces the aircraft into a sideways freefall
22:04Using his rudders and ailerons to tip the wings in one direction
22:08But turn the aircraft in the opposite direction
22:11Pushing it sideways into the oncoming air
22:13The 767 loses altitude quickly
22:19The bank angle was quite high
22:21If it was awkward for me, I can imagine for the passengers, it must really have felt hard
22:27As flight 143 plummets towards a former Canadian Air Force Base in Gimli, Manitoba
22:39Captain Bob Pearson focuses on the threshold of the runway
22:43If he can't straighten out the plane and line up with the runway, he won't get a second chance
22:50I got tunnel vision like I've never had it before
22:55It was just our speed and our relationship with the threshold of the runway
23:01But only hundreds of feet from the ground, Pearson's problems multiply
23:07The Gimli landing strip has been converted
23:11Into a drag racing strip
23:13Today is Saturday
23:18And it's not just race day
23:20It's family day
23:22Two children have decided to pedal the length of the runway
23:28They don't hear the plane coming for them
23:31Without engines, it's silent
23:34And one thing the 767 doesn't have is a horn
23:40Brace! Brace for landing!
23:42The nose hit with quite a bang on the runway
23:55It sounded like a shotgun going off at our feet
23:57The front landing gear gives way immediately after flight 143 touches down
24:02Pearson brakes hard, two tires blow out
24:06The bottom of the right engine scrapes the runway
24:09And I looked up and I could see two boys on bicycles
24:16And I can still remember the look of terror on their faces
24:21So they were close enough for me to see that
24:26Skidding down the runway at more than 200 miles per hour
24:30Smoke Bob!
24:31The plane plows into a guardrail installed down the middle of the runway
24:36Passenger evacuation checklist
24:50Passenger checklist
24:5117 minutes after running out of fuel
24:54Air Canada flight 143 comes to a final stop on the ground
24:58Checklist complete!
25:00Time to get out of here
25:01All the passengers aboard survive the incident
25:10I heard on the west radar frequency
25:14He's down okay
25:15He's in one piece
25:17And that's when our cheer went up
25:21I said okay
25:24Because all of these people were going to sleep in their own bed that night
25:30Air Canada flight 143 glided silently
25:45The event makes international headlines immediately
25:49People are already asking how one of the most sophisticated passenger planes in the world
25:54Could have run out of fuel
25:56Federal investigator Bill Taylor wonders if fuel on board flight 143 could have leaked out during flight
26:07They even went so far as to go into what they call the dry bay of the aircraft
26:11Had a look around with a flashlight and confirmed that there was no evidence of fuel having been lost in there
26:20With no evidence of a fuel leak
26:22This leaves investigators with only one conclusion
26:26The plane took off without enough fuel
26:29They need to find out why
26:33In 1983 Air Canada's 767 was the first plane to have metric fuel gauges
26:42Investigators discover that the ground crew made a mistake
26:45Calculating the proper amount of fuel for the airplane
26:48So did you convert to pounds or to kilograms?
26:54No, I don't know what I did
26:58It turns out they used pounds instead of kilograms
27:06Because a pound is about half a kilogram the plane only got half the fuel it required
27:12Two days after the landing at Gimli
27:15Air Canada's 767 was back in the air on its way to Winnipeg for repairs
27:24The plane is given a nickname that Bob Pearson earned for it
27:29The Gimli glider
27:30The Gimli glider
27:32As much as I've trained for all those years
27:36There's always that question about how you're going to perform when the chips are down
27:41After the incident in Gimli
27:51After the incident in Gimli
27:53Pilot training for complete engine failure is put into effect
27:57I was flying at the time and the company introduced a range of training sessions in the simulator
28:04Flying an aircraft with no engines
28:07Flying it like a glider
28:09Trying to appreciate its performance with no thrust at all
28:12But are training efforts enough to prevent a twin engine failure from turning into a catastrophic incident five years later?
28:21Mayday, mayday, TACA 1-10
28:24We lost an engine
28:25Both engines
28:26Both engines
28:27Both engines, sir
28:29Okay, where do I put this thing down?
28:36El Salvadorian TACA Airlines Flight 110 flies above the Gulf of Mexico
28:44The plane is carrying 38 passengers headed for New Orleans
28:49Thank you
28:5550 kilometers from its destination, the plane begins its final descent
29:01It won't be a routine landing for Captain Carlos Dardano and his crew
29:07There's a violent hailstorm between the plane and the airport
29:11It feels like you hit a wall
29:13There was severe turbulence in the cockpit
29:17With a lot of noise with ice hitting the airplane
29:22We're talking about the equivalent of an atomic bomb going off
29:26A tremendous amount of energy
29:30It was awful
29:33Lots and lots of lightning
29:35And the plane was having a pretty rough trip
29:37We were getting tumbled around pretty good
29:39Captain Carlos Dardano was born to fly
29:45At just 29, he is the third generation in a family of pilots
29:51Since I was a little child, I remember that I was dreaming of being a pilot
29:57And being around airplanes all the time
30:00Captain Dardano has overcome tremendous obstacles to earn his wings
30:04Six years earlier, in 1982, he was flying for a small general aviation company in El Salvador
30:12I was doing a little air taxi business around the country
30:16El Salvador was consumed by a civil war
30:19And Dardano found himself caught in the crossfire
30:22I was shot by the gorillas in the face
30:26Badly wounded, he managed to fly his passengers to safety
30:31And I flew 20 minutes back to the main airport
30:34The brush with death cost him his left eye
30:37I was shot over here, the bullet went through
30:42But Dardano did not give up on his dream
30:44Despite his impaired vision, he went on to become a certified commercial pilot
30:49Left the ice on
30:54First officer Dionisio Lopez has more than 12,000 flight hours
30:58He and Dardano have flown together many times
31:02TACA 110 runway 28
31:04Descendant pilot's discretion, maintain 4,000
31:07TACA 110, 4,000
31:12Captain Arturo Soleil is a flight instructor with TACA Airlines
31:16He's on board today to observe the performance of the new 737-300
31:25This hail is going to scratch the paint
31:32As the flight attendants will take their seats
31:35Flight attendants, please take your seats
31:39Suddenly, less than 17,000 feet from the ground
31:42The flight becomes more terrifying
31:52Everything went black
31:53All the alarms start sounding in the cockpit
31:57All the instruments went out
31:59So I hit throttles a couple of times
32:03Trying to just go to basics, control the aeroplane
32:07Lost power on the engines
32:08Then I find out that we didn't have any power
32:12I've got nothing
32:14The plane has enough speed to glide
32:16But not for long
32:19It's rapidly losing altitude
32:22We are dropping at 1,500 feet per minute
32:26Well, we knew we didn't have much time
32:30Lopez, watch the gauges
32:31Without engines, the odds of survival are dropping with every passing second
32:38Columet, take to New Orleans
32:40Get us out of this storm and onto our runway
32:43Mayday, mayday, TACA 110
32:45We are in the middle of the storm, sir
32:47We need vectors to the runway now, sir
32:49We lost an engine
32:51Both engines, sir
32:53I understand
32:55Both engines, TACA 110, roger
32:56TACA 110, roger
32:58The controller knows he needs to get the rapidly falling plane on the ground as soon as possible
33:03Even if it means sending it to another airport
33:06TACA 110, roger, turn left, heading 280
33:10Vectors to Navy Calendar Runway 22
33:13Flight 110 is still 32 kilometers from New Orleans
33:16The stricken plane has a better chance of landing at a US naval base 27 kilometers away
33:24But the plane will not make it to any airport unless the crew gets at least one of the engines started
33:3048, 39, 30, hit
33:41Only 5,000 feet from the ground, the left engine ignites
33:44Speed
33:55Okay, good job
33:59Start working on the other one
34:02The plane can fly with only one engine, but two engines would be safer
34:07Okay, we have one engine back on, request vectors to the Orleans
34:10TACA 110, Wilco, fly heading 2, 9 or 0
34:16Becker around the thunderstorms to your right
34:20Then the second engine comes back on line
34:23Here comes the other one
34:27Speed
34:29Alright
34:31And you got both of them now
34:32With both engines back, it appears the crisis is over
34:37Okay, sir, we have both engines back now
34:40We are going to go down to 3, 1, 0
34:43Me, 1, 0
34:50Look, I don't feel any power
34:52I don't feel any power
34:54I don't feel any power
34:59The sucker is not starting
35:00The engines appear to be running, but they are not providing any thrust
35:09Then the gauges show that the engines are overheating
35:13They are burning up from the inside
35:16The risk of both engines exploding and setting the plane on fire
35:20Now leaves Dardano no choice
35:22He must do something no pilot would ever want to do
35:26Shut down both engines for good
35:29I don't have any power in the engines
35:35The plane is quickly closing in on 3,000 feet
35:40At the rate it's dropping, it won't make it to the runway
35:45Okay, where do I put this thing down?
35:48We knew that we don't have any possibility to restart the engines
35:53And then we have to start looking for some place to land
36:01Captain Dardano has less than 3 minutes to find a place to land his crippled 737
36:06Attacker 110, do you have visual reference to the ground at this time?
36:10Yes, sir
36:11I was seeing just swampy land all over the place
36:17New Orleans is surrounded by canals and lakes
36:20The city is protected by a system of levees
36:23Man-made barriers designed to prevent flooding
36:26It's no place to try to land a 737
36:34The crew only has one option left
36:37I guess I'm going to have to make a ditching here, sir
36:38They must take their chances and put the plane down on water
36:43Attacker 110, roger
36:45Whatever you need to do, sir
36:47And that was about the last communication with the tower
36:52Then we were like 1,500 feet when that was going on
36:55That was going on
36:57Okay
36:59There
37:01Put it down softly
37:03It was a doomsday kind of feeling
37:07And this was it
37:09The 737 can only stay in the air for another minute
37:12As Dardeno looks for a safe stretch of canal to drop the plane in
37:17Another option appears
37:19Look! Look at that one over there!
37:21And then Lopez saw the levee parallel to the canal that we were making the approach on
37:27You put it there on the grass?
37:29Yes, boss!
37:30The levee is much shorter and narrower than a runway
37:34It's a safer choice than the water
37:36That's where we're going to go in
37:38You got it, my friend
37:40But they will have to act fast to get there
37:43The levee was parallel to my right
37:45To have any hope of landing on the levee
37:48He needs to make a sudden and dramatic course correction
37:51That requires performing the same risky manoeuvre Bob Pearson used over Gimli
37:56A sideslip
37:58So we just had to do a sideslip
38:00To get into position to make a perfect landing
38:07Oh God!
38:09I was in disbelief that this was happening
38:10Oh God! Oh God!
38:21With only one eye, Captain Dardeno is unable to gauge depth as he speeds towards the narrow, rain-soaked strip of grass
38:29I was prepared for the plane to blow up and explode and mentally had said goodbye to my family
38:37This is it
38:38This is it
38:41There's a high cement wall in front of the levee
38:44And a steep embankment on the left
38:46There may not be enough room to land
38:48Watch out for the wing on that side
38:50I see it
38:53Come on
38:58I'll keep the thing away
38:59I'll keep the thing
39:00We're keeping
39:06We touched down with one wheel and the other one
39:10On the soggy grass, the plane is in danger of skidding off the levee into the water
39:16I was trying just to control the aeroplane, not to hit the brakes and not to lose the aeroplane at the last minute, you know
39:23The spoilers were out
39:25So we were just thinking, okay, we make it, we make it, we make it
39:29We make it, we make it
39:38Very good
39:40Very good, very good, very good, sorry
39:43Very good, nice
39:44It was a hard landing, but it was a nice, it was a nice landing, just to be alive
39:53That was, I think, the most beautiful landing that I ever made
39:57Everyone aboard Flight 110 survives the treacherous emergency landing
40:06For the first time in history, a 737 without engines has landed safely outside an airport
40:14To end up with a jetliner sitting on a levee, having landed there, being perfectly intact, is almost an unbelievable sight
40:22It's beyond incredible
40:23Investigators need to find out why the engines failed
40:29If the storm caused them to shut down, thousands of planes could be at risk
40:36It's considered a very rare occurrence for engines to have flamed out in flight
40:43And therefore, the concentration was, what possibility would cause this
40:48On
40:53Study of the engines reveals that rain and hail from an intense storm crippled Flight 110
41:04They never thought about hail getting into the core
41:07Engine makers follow FAA rules to make sure they can withstand heavy precipitation
41:12But new engine testing done in the wake of the incident shows that when the engines were pulled back in anticipation of landing, heavy rain and hail caused an engine failure
41:23We've been testing everything in accordance with the normal FAA methodologies at high speed on the engines
41:31But these guys were indecent to New Orleans
41:34I don't have any power in the engines
41:36It was when the engine went down to idle, that's when the engine couldn't handle it
41:41In the wake of the incident, the engine is modified to better deflect hail away from the core
41:50And bleed doors are added to drain more water from the engine
41:53Within a year, 737 300s around the world are retrofitted with the upgrades
42:00But it's Captain Dardano's piloting skill that captures the attention of pilots and aviation experts the world over
42:10The decision making at the very end when they were going to put it in the canal and saw an opportunity to put it on dry ground and did so
42:18That was superlative, it was the decision making
42:21Investigators credit the calm nerves and determination of Captain Dardano
42:25Watch out for the wing on that side
42:27I see it
42:28For avoiding what could have been a fatal disaster
42:35Captain Carlos Dardano is dubbed a hero in the media
42:39The passengers that day were overjoyed
42:44Dardano and his crew kept the calm
42:47And because of that, 45 people who rode that plane are alive today
42:57In a challenging situation
42:59Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Cactus 1549
43:02A pilot will fall back on his professional training
43:06And deal with the emergency the best he knows how
43:09We're gonna be in the Hudson
43:10If the outcome is fantastic
43:12I guess I'll just slip it
43:14Yes, it will be looked on as heroic
43:17This is it
43:20It takes years of training to become an airline captain
43:24But it's when a crisis strikes that a pilot really earns his stripes
43:27Put the flaps out
43:28The odds of facing the ultimate test are minuscule
43:32But when it happens
43:34Passengers can only hope that in the left seat of the cockpit
43:37Is a hero pilot like Sullenberger
43:39My aircraft
43:41Pearson
43:43Or Dardano
43:44Here I go baby
43:45Here I go baby
43:46Here I go
43:47Here I go
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