Highest Duty_ My Search for What Really Matters - Chesley B. Sullenberger [114]
The whole incident took a bit longer in my memory. Yes, I knew and felt all along that things happened fast. But in my recollections, it was as if I had a little more time to think, to decide, to act—even if it was abbreviated.
Listening to the tape, however, I realized that everything really happened in 208 extraordinarily time-compressed seconds. Frankly, it was beyond belief. Beyond extreme. It was overwhelming. It took me right back to the moment. I didn’t tear up, but I know there were muscle changes in my face as I listened. It was surprising and emotional for Jeff, too.
Somehow, time must have slowed down in my head that day. It’s not as if everything was in slow motion. It’s just that, in my memory, it didn’t feel as incredibly fast as the tape made obvious that it was.
There are different microphones in the cockpit, which can pick up voices, noises, warning chimes, and radio transmissions, including those from other planes. The NTSB was able to play back whatever was picked up by each microphone, one at a time, so we could isolate certain sounds and hear things that were at first masked by louder sounds. The investigators asked us to explain sounds or snippets of conversation that weren’t clear on the tape.
I was very happy with how Jeff and I sounded on the tape, and how we handled ourselves individually and as a team. We did not sound confused and overwhelmed. We sounded busy. I’ve read many transcripts of accidents over the last thirty years, and this one sounded really good in terms of our competence.
Jeff and I had met just three days before we flew Flight 1549. Yet during this dire emergency—with no time to verbalize every action and discuss our situation—we communicated extraordinarily well. Thanks to our training, and our immediate observations in the moment of crisis, each of us understood the situation, knew what needed to be done, and had already begun doing our parts in an urgent yet cooperative fashion.
Departure control (3:28:31): “All right, Cactus fifteen forty-nine it’s gonna be left traffic for runway three one.”
Sullenberger on radio (3:28:35): “Unable.”
Traffic Collision Avoidance System in cockpit—synthetic voice oral warning (3:28:36): “Traffic! Traffic!”
Departure control (3:28:36): “Okay, what do you need to land?”
Predictive Windshear System synthetic voice (3:28:45): “Go around. Wind shear ahead.”
Skiles (3:28:45): “FAC-1 [Flight Augmentation Computer 1] off, then on.”
Skiles (3:29:00): “No relight after thirty seconds, engine master one and two confirm off.”
Sullenberger (3:29:11): “This is the captain. Brace for impact!”
Forty-four more seconds passed, with Jeff and me engaged in challenge-and-response as we went through the checklist while listening to both Patrick the controller and the repetitive chimes of the flight warning computer.
Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System synthetic voice (3:29:55): “Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up.”
Skiles (3:30:01): “Got flaps out!”
Skiles (3:30:03): “Two hundred fifty feet in the air.”
As I listened to the recording, I saw clearly that Jeff was doing exactly the right things at exactly the right moments. He knew intuitively that because of our short time remaining before landing and our proximity to the surface, he needed to shift his priorities. Without me asking, he began to call out to me the altitude above the surface and the airspeed.
Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System synthetic voice (3:30:24): “Terrain terrain. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up…
Sullenberger (3:30:38): “We’re gonna brace!”
It was awful and beautiful at the same time.
Jeff and I had found ourselves in a crucible, a cacophony of automated warnings, synthetic voices, repetitive chimes, radio calls, traffic alerts, and ground proximity warnings. Through it all, we had to maintain control of the airplane, analyze the situation, take step-by-step