Hero pilot tells of 'sickening feeling' when engines failed

Hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger said the moments after both engines of US Airways Flight 1549 lost power were the worst of his life.

He told a CBS 60 Minutes TV interview it was “the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling” he had ever experienced.

Captain Sullenberger said his first reaction when birds flew into the plane’s engines on January 15 was disbelief.

He glided the Airbus 320 over the George Washington Bridge and into the Hudson River. All 155 people aboard survived.

The captain praised New York City’s emergency crews, saying “thank you seems totally inadequate” and he had “a debt of gratitude” he feared he may never be able to repay.

The interview will be broadcast in the US on Sunday night.