All language subtitles for Mayday.S10E06.Hudson.River.Runway.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

After takeoff checklist complete.

US Airways Flight 1549

has just left New York's
LaGuardia Airport.

Birds!

And that fast, we were
just on top of them.

My aircraft.

Your aircraft.

Both of the plane's engines

have stopped working.

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
this is Cactus 1549.

The plane
is falling from the sky.

There are only a few seconds
to decide what to do.

If we can get it for you,

you wanna try to land on runway one-three.

We're unable.

155 lives
depend on the pilots

making the right call.

Hey, Cactus 1549,

you can land runway one at Teterboro.

Can't do it.

With a bad option
on the right and a worse one

on the left, the crew
decides to put their Airbus

on the runway that's dead ahead.

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

Mayday, mayday.

New York's
LaGuardia Airport, mid-afternoon.

Please take a moment to
listen to this important--

US Airways
Flight 1549 is a short hop

from New York City to
Charlotte, North Carolina.

At least it will be a
little warmer in Charlotte.

Your
seats are a floating device.

Together in the cockpit today

are Captain Chesley Sullenberger, 57.

Clear to push.

And First
Officer Jeffrey Skiles, 49.

We were late because the
weather was bad earlier,

but by this point, the
weather had cleared off

for our departure and it
was just puffy clouds.

28 brakes released.

Spot 28 for Cactus 1549.

150 passengers are onboard

the European-made Airbus A320.

Businessman Clay Presley is
on his way home to Charlotte.

I arrived at the the
airport at LaGuardia.

It was very cold.

It had been snowing a little bit that day

and we had a storm coming in.

So we wanted to make
sure we made that flight

and weren't hung up or
delayed on some later flight.

The crew flew in
an hour earlier from Charlotte

with Sullenberger at the controls.

Your brakes, your aircraft.

First Officer Skiles

will be flying the
plane back to Charlotte.

My aircraft.

It's a common
sharing of piloting duties.

Cactus 1549
runway four clear for takeoff.

Cactus 1549, clear for takeoff.

This trip marks the final leg

of a four-day sequence
of flights for both men.

We made our standard call outs.

It was just a normal takeoff,

normal procedures on the climb out.

There was absolutely
nothing at all to indicate

that this would be any
different than any other takeoff

in my entire career.

But by the end of the day,

they'll be the most
famous crew on the planet.

Gear airplanes.

Gear up.

Patrick Harten is one

of the controllers handling
traffic out of LaGuardia today.

He has one of the most
stressful jobs in the world.

When I sit down in front
of a radar, I am responsible

for every person on every
airplane under my control.

And I take that
responsibility very seriously.

Cactus 1549, New York
departure, radar contact.

Climb and maintain 1-5,000.

The flight will climb

northeast out of LaGuardia,

and then begin a slow turn
south towards Charlotte.

I think I had about
three or four airplanes

on my frequency at that time.

And it was just a normal departure.

It was just another flight

that I've handled a million times.

Riding the thrusts

of two General Electric engines,

the aircraft powers into the sky.

Cactus 1549, 700 climbing 5,000.

What a view of the Hudson today.

Yeah.

After takeoff checklist complete.

Flight 1549 is traveling

at almost 400 kilometers an hour.

It's been in the air for
just a minute and a half.

I caught something out
of the corner of my eye.

And slightly to our right
but still ahead of us

was a line of crows.

And they were very, very close,

too close for us to maneuver around.

Whoa!

And that fast, we were
just on top of them.

You can just feel the power
of the plane going forward,

then all of a sudden, there
was this gigantic boom.

It seemed like it stopped in mid-air,

like you hit a brick wall.

And then all of a sudden, somebody said,

"The left engine's on fire."

Uh-oh.

Before we could
even assess the situation...

We gpt one roll, both
of them rolling back.

Both engines rolled back to idle.

The ignition's stuck.

Just 13 seconds
after their problems began,

Sullenberger takes control
of the struggling plane.

My aircraft.

Your aircraft.

Get the QRH, loss of
thrust in both engines.

The QRH or
Quick Reference Handbook

is a step-by-step guide to
dealing with emergencies.

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
this is Cactus 1549.

Hit birds, we've lost
thrust in both engines.

We're turning back towards LaGuardia.

When a pilot says mayday
or declares an emergency,

you go from a focused state
to a hyper focused state.

You just focus in on the emergency itself

and figure out the
solution to the problem.

Okay, you need to return to LaGuardia.

Turn left heading 2-2-0.

2-2-0.

All of a sudden there was a smell

that came through the cabin.

Something's burning.

If fuel remaining, egine
mode selector ignition.

What I'm thinking though
at this point is that

we're gonna just have
to restart an engine.

Thrust levers, confirm idle.

Idle.

The procedure is to try
to restart the engines

and I always had faith we could do that.

Airspeed optimum relay 300 knots.

We don't have that.

We don't.

Hey, Cactus 1549, if
we can get it for you,

you wanna try and land
on runway one-three.

We're unable.

The conversations
with Captain Sullenberg

were very short and to the point,

which was very appropriate
for the emergency.

There was a lot going on and
wasn't much time to handle it.

When Captain Sullenberger
simply said, "unable",

it didn't bother me.

I mean, he had his hands
full flying the airplane

and I understood that.

So my job is just to move
on to the next option.

All right, Cactus 1549,

it's gonna be traffic
for runway three-one.

Unable.

Harten still wants the jet

to return to LaGuardia,

but Flight 1549 is now just
1400 feet above the ground.

Cactus 1549, runway four is available

if you wanna make left,
traffic runway four.

I'm not sure we can make any runway.

What's to our right, anything
in New Jersey, Teterboro?

Okay, yeah, off to your right
side is Teterboro Airport.

You wanna try to go to Teterboro?

Teterboro is a small airport

on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River

but it's several kilometers away.

And without their engines,
Flight 1549 is dropping fast.

You wanna
try to go to Teterboro?

Yes.

When the air traffic
controller pointed out Teterboro,

I looked at it and I
stopped and I was concerned

that he was actually going to try for it.

I didn't think we could make it.

So you're sitting there very quietly.

People are anxiously
waiting for information.

And they wanted reassurance
that things were gonna be okay.

You could hear the microphone come on.

This is the captain.

We're hoping he was gonna say
I've got this under control,

we're gonna be okay, we're gonna make it,

we're gonna turn around
and go back and land.

That's what you were hoping to here.

Brace for impact.

What does he mean brace for impact?

And then all of a sudden, it registered.

I think he's saying we're gonna crash.

Get your heads down!

I had no idea about
how to brace for impact.

Everybody's looking
around, brace for impact,

what do you mean brace for
impact and how do you brace?

Go ahead, try number one.

I put it back on.

Okay, put it
back on, put it back on.

While the crew struggles

to fly their stricken plane,

Patrick Harten is still trying
to find them an airport.

I actually worked Teterboro
Airport for about three years.

So I was very familiar with the airport.

Hey, Cactus 1549, you can
land runway one at Teterboro.

Can't do it.

Okay, which runway would
you like at Teterboro?

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

I'm sorry, say again, Cactus?

I could hear him

but my mind didn't really
wanna comprehend those words.

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

That was a death sentence for him.

And I didn't want to accept
the fact that it was over

and there were no more options left.

I don't think we're
going back to LaGuardia.

I just emailed my wife
and just said I love you.

And I didn't say anything else

because I really did
not want her to worry.

Okay, let's go.

Put the flaps out.

I thought to myself,

great, the Hudson River
was our best opportunity.

It was really the only thing in sight

where we could land this airplane.

Passengers
throughout the plane

watched the Hudson rise to meet them

and begin making
preparations of their own.

So I started thinking
about if we're gonna crash,

I know I need to figure out
where the exit rows are.

If the water comes in, you need to be able

to hold your breath long
enough to get to those four

or five rows and get the
doors open if you can.

Got flaps out, 250 feet in the air.

We're not gonna be able
to get an engine started,

so I started calling out
airspeeds and altitudes.

170 knots.

To give him a situational
awareness of what was going on.

Got flaps two, you want more?

No, let's stay at two.

Got any ideas?

I actually have not.

So focused on what we were doing

and I always thought it would work out.

Below 300 feet,

Patrick Harten's radar
can't see the plane.

Flight 1549 disappears.

When the aircraft
disappeared off my radar,

I just assumed that there
weren't gonna be any survivors.

In the cabin,
the passengers prepare

for the inevitable.

All the passengers really
started pulling together.

And somebody yelled out
as we were going down,

"Be ready at the doors."

Stay down.

The folks at the door
says, "We're ready."

And I was just scared to death.

We're gonna brace.

Looked like the airplane
was going right for the bottom

of the Hudson River.

All we saw was water
cascading over the windshield.

It was like a tornado.

Pieces of the plane were being torn apart.

Some people were thrown
around pretty good.

Then the airplane popped up

and it was just gently
rocking in the waves.

We all just sat there.

We were all in shock and we
were waiting for what's next.

US Airways
Flight 1549 was in the air

for just five minutes and eight seconds.

Having made a remarkable landing,

the passengers and crew
now face a new danger.

The plane is leaking.

The ice cold water of the Hudson
is pouring into the cabin.

The crew of Flight 1549 has just performed

an extremely difficult aviation feat,

but they still have more work to do.

Captain Sullenberger heads for the cabin,

while First Officer Skiles
shuts down the plane.

I stayed behind and did
the evacuation checklist.

And so it was probably about 45 seconds

before I actually went
back myself in the cabin

after we landed.

In an instant,
the $75 million plane

has become an unlikely boat
floating down the Hudson River.

It's now filling with freezing water.

That water was cold.

It was very cold, so
your feet are freezing.

People came to their senses and they said,

"Get the doors open, get the doors open."

At air traffic control,

Patrick Harten has no idea

the plane even made it down safely.

I didn't think anyone could survive

a water landing like that.

They got me off position
'cause I was obviously

in no condition to work traffic anymore.

Harten is
led to his union office.

Despite his ordeal, protocol demands

he recount his version of events.

I really didn't wanna speak to anyone.

I just wanted to hide under a rock.

I needed my wife to know what had happened

but I knew I couldn't talk to her

because I was pretty
much in a fragile state

and I didn't wanna break down.

So I sent her a simple text message.

I said, had a crash, I'm
not okay, can't talk now.

Passengers nearest the exits

opened the doors quickly,
while Sullenberger

and the cabin crew begin
managing the evacuation.

I just jumped up very quickly
and started making my way

to the emergency door.

And so I worked my way out onto the wing,

just a few steps to start with.

I started noticing that people around me

had their flotation devices.

They had pulled up their seat bottoms

or they had a life jacket
that they had taken.

I had nothing with me.

Skiles heads
back to help the crew

in the cabin get passengers
out of the sinking plane.

He knows there's not much time

and one of the flight
attendants has been injured.

I went back to about
mid-cabin and Sully and I

and two young men were getting
seat cushions and life vests,

which are underneath the seats,
and were passing them out.

And I'm looking around
trying to assess the situation.

Is the plane gonna blow
up, what's the next step?

There were actually
probably six or eight people

that went into the water.

And they were shivering
and they were cold.

We started pulling them
back up onto the wing.

At the back of the plane,

water continues pouring in.

Passengers are directed
to move forward to escape.

Go over
the seat if you have to.

This unwieldy boat

won't be floating much longer.

We were actually in
the water up to our knees

and it was just absolutely freezing cold.

Every part of your body
that was in that water

just ached to the bone.

Go forward!

Is there anybody here?

We were very confident
there was nobody left

on the airplane, but what
was going on on the wings,

we just had no idea.

Skiles and Sullenberger

are the last ones off the plane.

I just saw the big slash

when the plane just
bounced over the water.

Small commercial airline
crashed into the water.

They've been in the water
more than 10 minutes already.

LaGuardia
Airport has sent out an alert

to New York's emergency services.

In the middle of the Hudson,
155 frozen people hope

that help will arrive in time.

I saw the first ferry.

And I could see the wheelhouse.

I felt like, okay, we're
really gonna be okay.

There was a sigh of relief.

First on the
scene are passenger ferries

that have been shuttling
people across the Hudson.

They are eventually
joined by the Coast Guard

and fire department.

The atmosphere on the ferry
was still one of concern

because we didn't know
whether all the passengers

got off the plane at that point in time.

I was sitting in the
union office preparing

to make my statement.

Where do I start?

And that's when one of my
friends popped their head

into the office and said,

"Hey, Patty, it looks
like everyone made it."

And I was like, really?

That was incredible news.

I mean, I was still traumatized
by the event itself,

but the fact that everyone
made it was like the weight

of the world was lifted off my shoulders.

The entire nation looks on

as every single passenger
and the entire crew

of Flight 1549 is brought to safety.

It's cold.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

Like so many
others around the world,

investigators from the National
Transportation Safety Board

are riveted to the pictures.

Hey, you've gotta see this.

We learned a little
bit about the accident,

of course, before we launched.

The TV channels were showing the aircraft

in the river and everything.

All agreed that
the landing is extraordinary.

I think it was a miracle

and very blessed to have walked away.

I reached over to
Captain Sully and just said

I just want you to know you saved my life

and everyone's lives here.

In my mind, we were dead

and every one of us
came out of that alive.

It's a miracle.

By evening,

the plane is almost completely underwater.

The current is pushing it
towards the edge of the river.

The aircraft was tied up
against the pier and we went down

to look at it to see what we
were up against, of course,

but we can't do much at night.

NTSB Investigator
Harold Reichel arrives

on the scene.

The water was dark, of course.

We just saw the tail
and most of the fuselage

and one of the wings was
underneath the water.

We knew it was going
to be quite difficult

to get it A, out of the
water and then B, to a place

where we could examine the
components of the airplane

in a more controlled manner.

For investigators,
it's an unusual situation.

Normally, their main task is

to uncover the cause of a crash.

With Flight 1549, the cause seems obvious.

- Birds.
- Whoa!

The original
mayday call was clear.

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
this is Cactus 1549.

Hit birds, we've lost
thrust in both engines.

We're turning back towards LaGuardia.

The crew reported
that they hit several birds

shortly after takeoff.

I think everybody realized

that a bird strike had occurred.

What people didn't know
was what kind of birds

brought the aircraft down,
whether it might have been

a combination of a bird
strike plus something else,

whether the crew acted
and flew the aircraft

as they should have.

My aircraft.

Your aircraft.

Get the QRH.

US Airways pilot made
an incredibly skillful

emergency landing in the Hudson River.

Investigators
want to interview both pilots.

But their sudden fame
makes them hard to get to.

It became a little bit
more difficult than usual

to A, locate the flight crew
and then B, to talk to them.

They were instant heroes.

Nothing in a life can prepare
one for the media frenzy

of a situation like this.

And it's not just the pilot's

newfound celebrity that's an obstacle

for investigators like Katherine Wilson.

One of the most challenging
things in this case was

nobody wanted to sully Sully.

He was a hero in this case

and we were the ones who
was potentially going

to pick apart what he did and
try to find out what he did

and whether it was right or not.

To prove that
birds caused the crash,

authorities need to get
the plane out of the water,

but a vital piece is missing.

We had been told
earlier that both engines

were still attached to the aircraft.

That turned out not to be true.

So that became a major
goal right off the bat was

to figure out where
that second engine was.

We didn't know exactly where it was.

Let's focus on this area.

But we have films of the
aircraft actually touching down

and we could cross
reference different things.

We used some side-scanning sonar

that gave us a very clear
picture of the bottom.

It wasn't that easy to do

because the Hudson River has a current.

And the current changes
throughout the day.

So it took three days
ultimately to find the engine.

Within days, the
recovered engine and the rest

of the aircraft are moved
to a warehouse in New Jersey

so investigators can study
the wreckage more carefully.

We certainly couldn't do it out there

at the edge of the Hudson River.

And you can imagine how interesting it was

to take an airplane 150 or 200 feet long

through a very, very
populated area in New Jersey.

As the plane is being moved,

investigators work with the
voice and data recorders.

Okay, let's hear it.

Which were
in the most damaged part

of the plane, the tail.

The cockpit voice recorder
and the flight data recorder

were in virtually pristine shape.

The aircraft had sustained
quite a bit of damage

in the rear end, but
the recorders themselves

survived very well.

We were really lucky
all of the data was able

to be downloaded normally.

Whoa!

We got one roll, both
of them rolling back.

Listening to the
CVR provides vital insight

into how the crew
responded to the emergency.

In this case, both Captain Sullenberger

and First Officer Skiles acted
extremely professionally.

The ignition's stuck.

Each member had their own
roles and responsibilities.

They stayed with those
roles and responsibilities

throughout the accident flight

and communicated only when necessary.

Put the flaps out.

On Flight 1549.

My aircraft.

It took
just seconds for the crew

to each assume their
individual responsibilities.

Part of the reason they
handled the emergency so well

was that Jeffery Skiles
had only just finished

his Airbus training.

This was my first trip
out as a regular line pilot

in the Airbus A320.

It literally was right out of training.

And the benefit of that
was that he knew exactly

the checklist to turn to and
that's exactly what he did.

If fuel remaining,

engine mode selector ignition.

Crews are highly trained
in emergency procedures.

And the main thing is to follow
procedures in this instance

and that's exactly what
First Officer Skiles did

by grabbing the Quick Reference Handbook

and turning to the appropriate checklist.

But as investigators
examined the checklist

for restarting this plane's engines,

they make a troubling discovery.

It was assembled for an
event that occurred 20,000 feet

in the air, where a crew would
have plenty of time to slowly

and carefully go through
a three-page checklist,

the end of which was how
do we ditch the airplane.

So it was a three-page
checklist and really, I only got

to about the page and a
half through this checklist

in the time that we had.

Airspeed optimum relay.

The crew spent a lot of time
trying to restart the engines

when they could've been focusing
on preparing the airplane

for the ditching.

300 knots, we don't have that.

We don't.

Overly complicated checklists

have played a role in deadly
plane crashes in the past.

In 1998, a fire broke out onboard
a Swiss Air passenger jet.

The checklist the crew
used for that situation

would have taken them up to
half an hour to complete.

It's a half hour they didn't have.

But on Flight 1549, the checklist was far

from the greatest challenge
facing Sullenberger and Skiles.

I'm not sure we can make any runway.

Water landings are notoriously difficult

because unless they're perfect,
they can be catastrophic.

In 1996, after a hijacking,
an Ethiopian Airlines captain

tried to land off the Comoros Islands

when his plane ran out of fuel.

His left wing hit the water first,

causing the plane to cartwheel.

It was ripped to pieces.

Of the 175 people
onboard, only 50 survived.

Investigators soon learn that
none of the major airlines

use simulators to teach
pilots how to land on water.

Training for ditching in a
simulator is very difficult.

We don't have the models
to accurately simulate

what an airplane would do
when it touches down on water.

Given the rarity of this type of event,

it would be very difficult
to justify training pilots

for this type of event.

But even without

ever going through a simulation,

Captain Sullenberger got
almost everything right.

He kept the nose up and wings level.

He let the tail hit the water first,

slowing the jet down enough so
that it survived the impact.

Nice flying.

NTSB investigators turned

to their own simulation to
answer a vital question.

Did Sullenberger have
to land in the Hudson?

Brace for impact.

Or could he
have made it to a runway?

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
this is Cactus 1549.

Investigators
studied Chesley Sullenberger

and Jeffrey Skiles' actions

in the moments after their
plane collided with birds.

Ignition.

We wanted to know did the
pilots do the right thing.

So what we did in the simulator
was we tested exactly that.

Was there enough energy to
make it back to LaGuardia?

And what we found was
about 50% of the time,

we were able to make
it back to the airport.

But when a
35 second delay is imposed

after the bird strike to
account for the crew's attempt

to restart the engines, all
of the simulator pilots crash

before reaching the runway.

When we took into consideration

the decision-making process
that Captain Sullenberger

went through, we realized
that it was not possible

to make it back to the airport.

Cactus 1549, runway four is available.

There's no doubt.

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

Putting
the plane in the Hudson

was the right call.

Sullenberger didn't have
enough altitude to glide

to either LaGuardia or Teterboro Airports.

Got one roll,
both of them rolling back.

The
investigators also discover

that Sullenberger made a
decision that wasn't at the top

of the checklist, one that was critical

to the survival of everyone onboard.

I'm starting the APU.

On commercial jetliners,

the engines provide power
to electrical systems.

If the engines stop working,

the crew eventually loses those systems.

The APU is an emergency generator

that keeps some things running.

The APU allowed him to
still see his screens,

the instruments still worked.

It also
allowed the A320 itself

to assist with the heroic landing.

The APU provided power

to the plane's electronic
brain, stopping the pilots

from making any potentially
dangerous moves.

It kept them inside a
so-called flight envelope.

By starting the APU early in
the sequence, the flight crew

was able to maintain the
flight envelope protections,

which prevented the airplane from stalling

when the airspeed got too slow.

He's right on the edge of stall speed.

The flight data shows

that Sullenberger was going
slower than the ideal speed.

The airspeed during
the accident sequence

got about 20 knots slower
than it should have been

for this flight.

But the A320's
flight computer is designed

to constantly adjust the plane's pitch

and keep it from stalling.

We definitely could've had

a much more catastrophic outcome

had the airplane actually stalled.

Starting the APU.

Sullenberger's
quick thinking made sure

the plane's complex computer
system kept working.

It gave him an automated safety net

so he'd have the best chance
to do the nearly impossible.

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

It was a combination of a
good crew and a good airplane.

Let's go.

Put the flaps out.

The captain had the
presence of mind for instance

just before they were about to land,

a couple of hundred feet in the air,

to turn to the first
officer and he asks...

Got any ideas?

I actually have not.

They were both coordinating
right up to the end

and that's what we like to see.

Skill, training
and the aircraft's very design

combined to save the lives of 155 people.

But investigators still want
to know how birds crippled

two highly advanced jet engines

and if they can stop it
from happening again.

Eight days after the crash,
investigators are finally able

to examine the engines in detail.

Richard Dolbeer has
spent much of his career

studying collisions between
birds and airplanes.

When aircraft strikes a bird,

generally there's not
much left of the bird,

particularly if that bird
goes through the engine.

The engines
are analyzed piece by piece

to try and figure out
exactly what happened

3,000 feet above New York.

Let's look inside.

We exposed the engine
surfaces to a black light.

Proteins from many tissues will fluoresce

with a black light.

Much of the tissue was already gone,

but many of the proteins stayed

on the surfaces of the engine.

Look at that.

Deep in the right
engine, investigators find

about a cup of charred remain.

Most of the remains found
was just muscle tissue,

bone fragments and
minuscule feather remains.

I was able to find about
29 samples in one engine

and 14 in the other.

But the
engines aren't the only part

of the plane that's been damaged.

Birds.

Whoa!

The aircraft hit many birds.

So we found evidence on
the wings and on the flaps

and on the fuselage, but
the plane can still fly

when that occurs.

The threat posed
by bird strikes is well known.

Bird strikes are a much bigger problem

than the general public realizes.

In the last 20 years, there
have been approximately

210 aircraft that have been destroyed

because of collisions with birds.

This Boeing
757 ingested a crow

while taking off from Manchester, England,

later landing safely.

In 2008 alone, there were
four dramatic accidents.

A Boeing 747 sucked a kestrel
into one of its engines.

The crew aborted takeoff and survived.

The plane was ruined.

This jet ingested
pelicans into both engines

and one ended up in the cockpit.

Repairs cost $2 million.

The engine of an MD10 was
severely damaged by a gadwall.

The repair cost was $900,000.

And five people were killed
when this Cessna smashed

into at least one pelican.

More than 200 people have died

in bird strike accidents since 1988.

The problem could get worse

because there are more birds out there.

By restricting the use of
pesticides that were hazardous

to birds, such as DDT, we've
seen a tremendous rebound

in the populations of bird
species, a remarkable increase

in the Canada geese that are
resident, non-migratory birds.

Nationwide, the population
has grown from about 1 million

to about 4 million.

At LaGuardia,

one of the airport's biggest problems

is a year-round goose colony
on nearby Rikers Island.

In the year 2002 to 2004,

there were eight Canada goose
strikes at LaGuardia Airport

involved birds either on the airport

or right off of the airport.

One of those strikes almost
caused a plane to crash

and it was a very close call.

For the past
several years, airport officials

have rounded up hundreds
of geese from Rikers Island

and euthanized them.

It's controversial but
should be effective.

So where did these birds come from?

If the geese that
hit US Airways Flight 1549

were local, they can be controlled.

Investigators need to
know more about them.

The remains that we
did find were so small

that we couldn't really
tell what type of birds

and we enlisted the help of
the Smithsonian Institution.

They can take remains,
even very small remains

of small pieces of feathers
or flesh or whatever,

and they can identify them.

The hope is that
DNA analysis of the remains

will not only confirm the bird's species

but also offer clues as
to where they came from.

While they wait for
answers, investigators turn

to answering the question
of how a few birds

forced a 68 ton jet from the sky.

Before they can be used
in a passenger jet,

engines undergo rigorous testing
to prove they can perform

under extreme conditions.

The tests include ingesting
frozen bird carcasses.

The CFM turbo fan engines
that power the A320

passed those tests and
was certified in 1996.

The large bird test
required for the CFM engine

is shooting a four-pound
bird from an air cannon

into the engine, which is
running at near full power.

To pass,
the engines don't have

to keep running.

They only have to stay together,

which they did on Sullenberger's plane.

Well, the engines did not experience

what we call uncontained
failures, no large chunks

of fan blades or anything
flew out through the cowls

to hurt people inside the airplane.

Fan blades are always
the most interesting part

to look at, and they
often tell quite a story.

A series of fan
blades throughout the engine

compress incoming air until it's ignited

in the core creating thrust.

Ingested bird can wreak
havoc on this process.

When a fan blade of an engine fails,

it causes a lot of continuing damage.

In this particular case, all
the fan blades were there.

They suffered severe damage,
but none were broken.

An analysis
of the engines shows

that while the primary fan
blades survived the impact,

the delicate machinery inside the cores

of both engines did not.

Uh-oh.

We got one roll, both
of them rolling back.

Once we went into the
engine itself, into the core,

we determined that there
was significant damage.

When a bird gets ingested into the core,

it is such a large mass
compared to these blades

that it does a lot of damage to them.

The birds
ingested into Flight 1549...

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
this is Cactus 1549.

Ripped apart
the engine's compressors,

metal shards from these broken
compressors were sucked deep

into the cores of both
engines, shutting them down.

We've hit birds, we've
lost thrust in both engines.

When DNA results come back

from the Smithsonian Institution,

investigators finally understand

why Flight 1549 lost both its engines.

The birds that struck
Sullenberger and Skiles' aircraft

were adult Canada geese.

They were far larger
than anything the engines

were ever tested for.

Because of that analysis,

we know that these birds ingested

each probably weighed about 10 pounds.

The tests
also confirmed that as many

as four large birds had
hit Flight 1549's engines.

It was simply too much for them to handle.

Rarely do birds get ingested
into the core of the engine.

Rarely does an engine ingest the bird

and then stop running completely.

That's a very rare event.

The ignition's stuck.

What makes this one even rarer

is that both engines ingested
birds and both shut down.

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

The DNA test also proves

that the geese involved in this accident

were not the local geese

that LaGuardia has
worked so hard to manage.

These were geese that
had been in Northern Canada

during the proceeding summer.

They were migratory geese.

The collision
between the migrating geese

and Flight 1549 happened seven
kilometers from the airport.

It means that none of the
existing programs for reducing

the number of birds would
have prevented the collision.

It also means that what
happened to that flight

could happen again,
unless a way can be found

to keep birds and planes apart.

Every year, about 2 million planes

pass over New York's air space.

Most people do not
appreciate the problems

that birds can cause to aircraft.

They don't realize how a
small seemingly insignificant

organism in relation to
the size of an aircraft

can cause these kinds of
catastrophic failures.

The airline
industry needs to find solutions

to bird strikes.

Placing screens in front
of the engines is one

of the most obvious answers,

but there are serious drawbacks.

Screens can fall off, screens can break

and then they would be
ingested into the engine

causing similar damage or
more catastrophic damage.

Screens can
also introduce turbulence

to the air flow which can
starve the engines of air

causing them to fail.

Winter weather is also a serious
problem for engine screens.

A screen is a perfect ice builder

and will accrete ice very
quickly in icing conditions.

A more promising solution

is already being tested in
several American cities,

including New York.

At John F. Kennedy
Airport, specialized radar

is sweeping the skies looking
for birds near planes.

Most airports are equipped with radar

that sends out radio waves

that simply bounce off objects in the sky.

Typically, only large objects are seen.

And most of this information
isn't passed along

to air traffic controllers.

The fact is that their scopes

would be cluttered with things.

Tall masts from ships
for instance would pop up

on their radar as low targets.

The clutter in fact with
interfere with air traffic control

and that's not a good thing.

But now, finely
calibrated avian radar

is being tested at JFK.

It can distinguish items
the size of hummingbirds.

If any birds are detected
moving through flight paths,

crews could be alerted.

I would love to see
bird radar technology.

The key would be how to incorporate that

without increasing workflow

to an already stressed controller.

Tests
continue but widespread use

of avian radar is still years away.

Cactus 1549,
runway four clear for takeoff.

Cactus 1549, clear for takeoff.

Until then, collisions

between birds and planes will continue.

What the safe outcome
of Flight 1549 proved

is that right now the best
defense against this threat

is a good team in the cockpit.

We had a very experienced flight crew

with very good training.

My aircraft.

Your aircraft.

Get the QRH.

All your training that
you've done and all the years

that you've been flying the airplanes,

it all just comes back
to you when you need it.

My aircraft.

Your aircraft.

Sully and I worked together
extremely well on this event.

I knew what was in his mind and
he knew what was in my mind.

We were both accomplishing
our individual roles

but we had a knowledge
of the whole situation.

Okay, you need to return to LaGuardia.

Turn left heading 2-2-0.
- 2-2-0.

This event definitely
puts things in perspective

for you as a controller.

One thing, I appreciate more the teamwork

and how when you work together,

you can pretty much accomplish

whatever you need to accomplish.

Off to your right side
is Teterboro Airport,

you wanna try and make Teterboro?

We're gonna be in the Hudson.

The landing in the Hudson

took training and skill.

It also took a bit of luck.

We had a very clear day,

we had a perfect condition for the river.

So there was just a series
of really fortunate events

that occurred that assisted this crew

in landing successfully on the river.

At the Safety Board,
we don't really deal

in miracles very often, but
this event had a lot of things

that came together at the
right time and the right place.

And so a lot of us are thinking,

well, maybe we do have a miracle here.

What a view of the Hudson today.