History Book: Heroism amid disaster

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, January 13th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, two plane crashes—and several brave heroes who put their lives on the line to save passengers. WORLD’s Emma Perley has the story.

CBS NEWS REPORT: These daring helicopter rescues late this afternoon about a mile from the White House. Air Florida flight 90 had crashed on takeoff in a blinding snowstorm. It hit a bridge. It’s an eerie scene with helicopters circling above, casting a glow on the scene below, next to the Potomac River.

NEWS REPORT: District police and medical authorities still can’t say whether Arland Williams was the hero of the Air Florida crash …

EMMA PERLEY: On the morning of January 13th, 1982, a storm in Washington, D.C. pads the roads with 6 inches of snow.

Banker Arland Williams heads to the Washington National airport for a flight to Florida. It’s delayed for a few hours, and sits on the tarmac until finally, the crew gets the go-ahead.

The aircraft rolls onto the runway to wait in a long line of other planes. As the snow falls harder, ice forms along the wings. The pilot and the first officer neglect to turn on the engine’s de-icing system. Neither of them have much experience flying in snowy conditions. Two other passengers on the flight are Nikki Felch … she’s a secretary … and her boss Joe Stiley … who’s a pilot.

At 4pm, it’s finally time for liftoff. Audio here from Mayday Air Disaster.

STILEY: I got real nervous about halfway down the runway. When we got airborne, almost instantly it was clear that that aircraft was not flying normally. And I turned to Nikki and I said, ‘We’re in real trouble.’

The plane starts shaking and losing altitude. Audio here from the last moments before impac, courtesy of The Weather Channel.

CAPTAIN: Forward, just barely climb … stalling! We’re stalling!

FIRST OFFICER: We’re going down, Larry!

CAPTAIN: I know!

The plane hits several cars as it scrapes the 14th Street Bridge—then crashes into the Potomac River.

From Mayday Air Disaster again with Stiley.

STILEY: And then, we hit the water. And that was a real, real impact. Much greater than the one with the bridge. And I felt myself blacking out. I thought I was going to die in that airplane that day.

The fuselage sinks into the icy water. Of the 79 passengers, only six survive—including Williams, who’s tangled in the wreckage. They all cling to the floating tail of the plane:

STILEY: I looked up and there were probably, seemed like 10,000 people up on that bridge and along the sides of it looking at us. And we were out there freezing to death. All those people standing up there and nobody could do anything.

A U.S. Park Police helicopter lowers a lifeline down to the survivors to rescue them one-by-one. Every time the helicopter comes back, Williams passes the life vests to those around him—making sure they get the first chance at rescue.

SOUND: [RESCUE ACTIVITY]

A bystander, Lenny Skutnik, swims out to help one woman who is too weak to hold onto a lifeline. Five of the six passengers return safely to shore. Eventually, the wreckage submerges Williams underwater where rescuers can’t reach him.

Later his cause of death was determined to be drowning—he had no other significant injuries. After the 14th Street Bridge was rebuilt, it was also renamed in his honor. Former President Ronald Reagan gave Skutnik the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his heroic actions that day. And he awarded the same medal to Williams posthumously.

27 years later, another disaster in the sky, and on a river.

Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is a whip smart captain for US Airways. He previously worked for the US Air Force, and has about 20,000 hours of flight experience. Here’s Sully in a 2020 interview with Inc.

SULLEY: January 15th, 2009 started just like 10,000 other days. Literally.

That day, Sully pilots an Airbus A320 with 155 passengers aboard. The plane takes off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City at 3:30pm.

SULLEY: And Flight 1549 initially, like all those other flights for so long, was completely routine and unremarkable for the first 100 seconds. But this, very suddenly, and I was aware of it at the time, became the worst day of my life.

The plane hits a flock of Canada geese—a bird strike—and the engines falter. Sully radios the air traffic controllers for an emergency landing. Audio here from the Federal Aviation Administration.

SULLY: Uh, this is Cactus 1539. Hit birds, lost thrust in both engines. We’re turning back towards LaGuardia.

CONTROLLER: Cactus 1529, if we can get it to you, do you want to try to land runway 13?

SULLY: We’re unable. We may end up in the Hudson.

Even after the 1982 tragedy on the Potomac River, Sully had only discussed theoretical water landings in the classroom. Now, with airport runways too far away, he has no choice but to head for the Hudson river. Sully and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, work quickly as the plane falls through the sky. Sully turns on the PA system:

SULLEY: I said, “This is the captain. Brace for impact.”

The plane crashes down and then settles into the water. It’s still intact.

SULLEY: And in the most amazing coincidence, Jeff and I turned to each other at that moment, and at the same time, using the same words, said, ‘Well that wasn’t as bad as I thought!’

The crew evacuates passengers through the emergency exits, handing out life vests and deploying an inflatable raft. Water spills into the plane as it slowly sinks into the Hudson.

Nearby boats hurry to help the rescue efforts. Sully himself inspects the plane twice to make sure everyone got out.

The media dubbed the near-fatal crash Miracle on the Hudson. And the airplane crew received high awards for their bravery and quick thinking. Sully later testified in a Congressional hearing on the accident. From AP News.

SULLEY: I want only to reiterate to the subcommittee that the successful outcome was achieved by the actions of many. Lives were saved due to the combination of a very experienced, well trained crew. All of whom acted in a remarkable display of teamwork.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Emma Perley.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.