Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger displayed the same understated command on stage this past Thursday night as he did in the cockpit of US Airways Flight 1549 exactly 15 years ago today.
"One of the things Jeff [Skiles, co-pilot] and I realized early on is that this event, happening in the daylight and in the internet age and over New York City, was going to get noticed," Sullenberger said with comic deadpan.
The hero pilot's understatement drew laughs from hundreds of guests at the Paley Center for Media in Midtown Manhattan.
"Cool in the cockpit and cooler on stage," quipped broadcaster Kate Bolduan, who moderated the panel, "Miracle on the Hudson: How ‘Sully’ and Flight 1549 Inspired a Nation."
Sullenburger headlined the event, joined by Skiles, former NBC broadcaster Katie Couric, several survivors and Dr. Hilda Roque, who treated the survivors in the immediate aftermath of their brush with death.
Sullenberger and Skiles splash-landed their Airbus A320 into the Hudson River on the frigid January day, just four minutes after it departed from LaGuardia Airport.
The plane lost power in both engines when it struck a flock of birds almost immediately after takeoff.
All 155 passengers and crew members on board miraculously survived the forced landing.
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Sullenberger almost instantly became, and remains to this day, an American folk hero.
The stunning story of survival against the odds gripped the nation as a bright light in an era of turmoil.
"I think to put it into context, you have to remember in January of 2009, they were pretty dark times," said Couric.
"The housing crisis was going on, the recession … It was a stressful time in the country."
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The country was also beset by political turmoil, just days before the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the ongoing divide over the direction of the war on terror.
The image of survivors standing on the wings waiting for rescue boats quickly zipped around the world.
It drew Americans together in a moment of shared joy and as news organizations and viewers scrambled to figure out why an airplane was floating down a river past the skyline of Manhattan.
One correspondent described the scene "as a picture in search of a story," Couric said, while broadcasters and viewers scrambled for answers.
"We got some video of a plane on the Hudson River," Couric added. "And we’re thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’ We thought, ‘Is this a movie being made, a disaster film?’ We couldn’t figure it out."
The miracle did actually become a movie.
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"Sully" was released in 2016 — with Tom Hanks in the role.
Sullenberger called the movie "a mixed blessing," while its producer, Allyn Stewart, sat on the panel and described efforts to uphold the integrity of the real-life heroic story.
The near-death experience is still seared in the memories of survivors, they indicated.
"I think about it when I go to bed. I think about it in the morning," said Brian Leonord, who said he wakes up each day looking at a picture on his bedroom wall that shows the airplane in the hands of God.
Leonard, wearing a white button-up shirt and dress pants, was immediately misidentified as the pilot, recounted Dr. Hilda Roque, in the confusion that followed the incident.
She was one of the first medical professionals to treat the survivors as they sat wordless in a riverside marina.
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Leonard stubbornly denied he was the pilot.
"I thought he was hallucinating," said Dr. Roque, the tale drawing laughs on Thursday night with the passage of 15 years.
The real pilots knew almost immediately they had to make use of the sudden international attention.
"He and I had a conversation about this," said Sullenberger, referring to Skiles. "We decided that we had an obligation to use this bully pulpit that we were given by circumstance for good in every way we could and for as long as we could."
Sullenberger and Skiles set about lobbying for improvements to airline safety.
Among their most notable achievements, they were instrumental in the passage of the 1,500-hour rule for pilots. (The Federal Aviation Administration enacted this law requiring pilots to have at least 1,500 flight hours of experience before they can fly commercial airlines.)
"It's been an amazing 15 years," said Sullenberger on Thursday night. "A good 15 years for my family and me. For the aviation industry."
He added, "A lot of good things have happened along the way. We're safer flying now than we were before. After every accident — and this was an accident — we learn from it."
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