Miracle on the Hudson's Capt. Sully Says He's 'Devastated' by Potomac Plane Crash: 'A Catastrophic Event'

Mar. 15, 2025

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III in 2009.Photo:Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Few people can relate to the pilots involved in theAmerican Airlines plane crash over the Potomac Riveron Wednesday, Jan. 29, as well asChesley “Sully” Sullenberger III.

In 2009, Sullenberger piloted a passenger plane that wasforced to safely land on the Hudson River, miraculously saving the lives of the 150 people on board.

However, Wednesday’s crash proved much less fortunate after aPSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopterwhile the jet was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, as the FAA previously told PEOPLE. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the jet at the time, plus three military personnel on the helicopter.

Though he didn’t specifically touch on what could have caused Wednesday’s collision, Sullenberger, 74, toldRobin RobertsonGood Morning AmericaThursday, Jan. 30, “We have to realize how many things have to go right every day for us to have this now ultra-safe transportation industry,”

“Any lapse could potentially be fatal, even though we have a lot of safety layers in there,” he added. “If all the dominos line up in the wrong way, we can have, on rare occasions, a catastrophic event — and it’s important to know that given enough time, given enough flights, given enough flight hours, eventually whatever can happen will happen, unless we work very hard to prevent every incident from turning into an accident.”

Speaking about the unique challenges of Reagan airport, he continued, “It’s kind of a special safety airport that pilots need to have unique training on to fly in and out of if you’re an airline pilot. … [It] requires a bit more study to operate there safely because of the short runways, because of the proximity of other airports and because of the traffic level; it’s a high-traffic, high-density area. And lots of different kinds of traffic that’s mixed together.”

However, despite all the factors that go into safe air travel, Sullenberger noted that the likelihood of a crash like this was “infinitesimal.”

“We have a lot of people who work very hard every day and are very dedicated to keep us safe,” the retired pilot reassured the public. “We have thousands of people doing that every day — we just don’t know who they all are.”

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Emergency-response teams conduct search-and-rescue operations in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025.Andrew Harnik/Getty

Andrew Harnik/Getty

Survivors of the Miracle on the Hudson crash marked15 years sincethe harrowing incident last January.

“My definition of success for that flight was complete, absolute: had even one person perished, I would’ve considered it a tragic failure,” Sullenberger told PEOPLE at the time. “I couldn’t have celebrated any of this.”

The stunning landing thrust Sullenberger into the spotlight with honorsthat included an inviteto PresidentBarack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, a dramatized retelling of the crash in 2016’sSullystarringTom Hanksand theSullenberger Aviation Museum, which now houses the Airbus A320.

The total devastation from Wednesday’s crash remains unknown at this time. It is expected to be the deadliest commercial plane crash in the U.S. in at least 15 years.

So far, at least 28bodies have been recoveredfrom the river, including 27 from the American Airlines plane and one from the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter. No survivors have been confirmed.

source: people.com