NEW YORK – Hero pilot Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger says the moments after both engines of US Airways Flight 1549 lost power were the worst of his life.
He tells Katie Couric in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview it was "the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling" he's ever had.
Sullenberger says his first reaction when birds flew into the plane's engines was disbelief.
He glided the Airbus A320 over the George Washington Bridge and into the Hudson River. All 155 people aboard survived.
Click here for photos.
The captain praises New York City's first responders. He says "thank you seems totally inadequate" and he has "a debt of gratitude" he fears he may never be able to repay.
The interview is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. EST Sunday.
On Thursday, the FAA released tapes of cockpit recordings from Flight 1549 before it landed in the Hudson.
Click here for excerpts of the tapes and transcripts.
In the recordings, Sullenberger predicts that he might have to bring the jet down in the water.
He tells air traffic control he lost both engines to a bird strike and has to land the plane.
Sullenberger stays calm throughout, but at one point warns that "we're gonna be in the Hudson."
Click here for all the tapes and transcripts released by the FAA.
Click here to watch a video of US Airways Flight 1549 making emergency landing.
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