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New York City Presents Certificates to Plane Crash Rescuers; Survivors Happy to be Alive; Airbus Ditched In Hudson River Will Be Moved Today; Obama Scores Big On His Way To The Inaugural, Senate Releases TARP Funds, House To Vote To Fund His Stimulus Package
Aired January 16, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Plane down, all safe. Flight 1549's incredible landing and the rescue that followed. Live this hour, hear from the first responders.
And still in the deep freeze. Arctic blast shakes the Midwest, East, and South. It is Friday, January 16th, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Astounding, incredible, people who witnessed us airways flight 1549 crash into the Hudson River yesterday, cannot believe everyone survived; 155 people in all, plucked from the frigid waters. Minutes earlier, the pilot had called out, "Brace for impact!"
Federal investigators are eager to talk with the pilot and co- pilot, who from all accounts made the right moves. And any minute now, we do expect to hear from New York's mayor on this and some of the first responders that were involved, as well.
The plane, as you can see, is still in the water. Some live pictures for you now. Actually, that's not true. I'm sorry. It's now tethered actually to appear in Manhattan. And our Senior Correspondent Allen Chernoff is close by that.
Allen, we are curious to see what it looks like now, this morning. And how are they going to get the plane out of there?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are going to use a huge crane, which we cannot see, because it's being blocked by a building here. But if you look right behind me, you can at least see part of the wing. And right behind that wing is a portion of the crane that's on a massive barge.
The game plan today is to get that aircraft out of the water, put it on to a barge, and bring it over to an airfield, where the NTSB will be able to go through the entire plane, find the black box. They'll look through everything. They do, however, have to search in the Hudson River for one other portion of the aircraft, the left engine. The left engine has fallen off. It's somewhere in that river. And you can believe me, they will find that engine.
In addition, the NTSB today plans to interview the pilot and the rest of the crew, as well. Five crew members were on board. And it really was just, as you said, a spectacular performance by the crew. What happened was, the plane took off from La Guardia airport in the Borough of Queens. One minute after, the engines both blew out. The pilot said, we have a double bird strike. He flew over the Hudson River , made a left turn right above the George Washington Bridge, and then came in for a smooth landing just along Midtown Manhattan at right about 48th Street. Everybody got out safely, 155 people in all. Just a spectacular performance.
Now, what do we take away from this? The fact is, these engines are tested for ingesting birds, for sucking up birds, when they're first manufactured. I spoke with one of the NTSB board members about this very question, just a few minutes ago. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KITTY HIGGINS, NTSB: They're certified before they're put on -- when they're manufactured. So the question is, what are those standards? And are those the right standards? And maybe the standards should change.
CHERNOFF: Should they be retested, do you think?
HIGGINS: I don't know that. We'll look at that. Again, we want to first of all determine exactly what happened before we speculate about what to do next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Heidi, as you know, this sort of thing does happen, engines sucking up birds. It's very rare, however, for both engines to do it. And both engines to absolutely shut down. Fortunately, it all turned out OK yesterday - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yeah, very rare. All right. Well, it's an incredible story. We'll continue to cover it here. Allen Chernoff for us this morning right in front of the plane, we can see in the background there.
Flight 1549's pilot, C.B. Sully Sullenberger being called a hero by the passengers. In fact, here's what one man said after he got into Charlotte on a later flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD WENTZELL, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: This pilot, and if - this guy doesn't get the recognize he needs --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unbelievable.
WENTZELL: Is the reason my daughter, my two-and-a-half-year-old has a dad. And my wife still has a husband.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We have had a lot of help in telling this story from our iReporters. These pictures were taken by Thomas Stolarski. He was just a few feet away, as you can tell, when he took these pictures. If you have pictures of the scene, or you want to share it with our viewers, just log on to Ireport.com and go ahead and send those in. That's where you can also see more of the photos and video that's already been sent in by our iReporters. Some of them pretty incredible, too.
Another airbus pilot will be joining us shortly to talk about how fellow flyer, Sully Sullenberger made his Hudson River landing. Also ahead dealing with survivor trauma.
Rob Marciano standing by now to deal with a different kind of trauma. Because, boy, Rob, I mean it's no joke, it's dangerously cold in a lot of different parts of the country.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
COLLINS: Meanwhile, want to get this news out to our viewers, because we are learning, Andrew Wyeth, he's a very well-known American painter, has died. He was 91 years old. And we are being told by some of the coordinators and PR people at Brandywine River Museum that he died in his sleep last night.
Once again, Andrew Wyeth, the well-known American painter. In fact, you may know about the Helga pictures. It's very interesting. His paintings and pencil works were secretly created over about 15 years. All of his neighbor by the name of Helga. His wife didn't even know. In fact, there were 240 of those works. Once again, Andrew Wyeth, now dead at the age of 91.
Too big for just one day. Here is a live look from Capitol Hill now. The Senate Judiciary Committee getting ready for the second day of the confirmation hearing for Eric Holder. Holder, as you know, President-Elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general.
Day one was dominated by questions for Holder himself. Today, we have witness testimony now, former FBI director, Louis Frey, and former Bush administration Homeland Security advisor Francis Townsend are expected to speak. Full disclosure, Townsend is also a CNN national security contributor.
President-Elect Barack Obama head to go Ohio today, taking his economic message on the road to a Cleveland-area manufacturing plant. He gets there with a win already in his back pocket. The Senate deciding not to block the release of that bailout money, the federal bailout money. You know there was $350 billion left to be doled out. Our CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now from Washington, with more on this.
Hi there, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi, there's a little wind out here as well.
Barack Obama , one of his aides telling me this morning, you really cannot overstate the sense of relieve, and even the sense of success, pride that they had in convincing the Senate yesterday in their vote to release that second half portion of the bailout money in the tune of some $350 billion.
It was really a tough sell for Barack Obama. He put a lot of political capital on the line, personally picking up the phone, reaching out to Republicans, also quietly reaching out to Democrats, as well. It is a hurdle that he has overcome at this point.
The other side, House Democrats introducing legislation, some $825 billion, part of an economic stimulus package that Barack Obama has been pushing for the last couple of months, saying this is going to be very important from day one, that he has the kind of money, lots of money, to try to turn this economic situation around.
Now, Barack Obama talked about it in his interview with "The Washington Post", saying that he is stressing the need, you know, that these are dire times and the sense of urgency in had getting those funds to the administration. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: The credit markets are still very weak, that banks now are fully caught up in a downward spiral, where they have now affected the real economy, the real economy is now affecting their balance sheets. And so we're going to have to intelligently and strategically infuse some additional capital into the financial system. That's why I requested the triggering of the second round of TARP.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: But Heidi, it's really far from certain whether or not he is actually going to get that huge economic stimulus package. A lot of Republicans who are shaking their head looking at that dollar figure, wondering whether or not that really is realistic at this time. So we'll see if that actually passes in Congress.
And also, he needs to make this pitch, this sales pitch, to the American people. That's why he's going to be in Bedford Heights, Ohio, in just a couple of hours. He's going to be at a wind turbine plant, meeting with plant workers, making the pitch, making the case directly to the American people, that this package, this money that is essentially going to come from all of us, is very, very important in terms of creating jobs. And ultimately turning the situation around, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yeah, and it's worth repeating. It may sound elementary, but important for people to understand, it is our money. It's not a big pile of money that the government will be doling out as we continue to say. It's money that doesn't exist right now, and will have to be found from us and our children and their children. So important decisions, of course.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely.
COLLINS: CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Thank you, Suzanne. Try to stay warm there.
We are going to be bringing you live coverage of President-Elect Obama 's remarks in Ohio. That is supposed to get under way at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Take a moment now to check out the Big Board there. We have double digits to the positive. That's pretty good news. Of course, you can see we are resting now 80 -- excuse me, 8282. Numbers do keep going lower than we have seen in a very long time, though.
And now to more money matters: Bank of America gets an extra cash infusion from the government. And this morning, the government reveals consumer prices fell again in December. CNN's Christine Romans is here to tell us what it all means.
Christine, I get a little tripped up when I look at the Big Board there all the time, these days.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I know.
COLLINS: But the numbers, the consumer price index. Not good.
ROMANS: Right, let's start there.
Let's start there, right? It declined again. On the surface, it's good. The things -- what you're paying for items is going down every day, but the reason that is, is because you're not buying as much as you used to. Demand is going down. And that means that prices are falling, as well, so consumer prices fell again last month, about 0.7 of a percent. It's the third month in a row. Core inflation remained unchanged. These are the inflation numbers. At least you don't have that to deal with, but when you have disinflation, or falling prices, that's a sign of how weak the economy is.
You heard the president-elect there, Heidi say the banks are in a downward spiral. That now the problems in the financial system have spilled into the broader economy, and now the broader economy coming back to the financial system, and hurting it again. So we're in a difficult position here. You're seeing that Bank of America had to ask for $20 billion more, $20 billion more from the federal government.
And also, some guarantees on future losses, about $118 billion in guarantees overall. An awful lot of your money being used to shore up Bank of America. And Citigroup, a company that went from insurance to banking to all different kinds of businesses, the idea was a financial supermarket. Well, now it's breaking itself apart into at least two pieces and undoing some of that massive growth, in a bid, banking analysts say, for survival.
So in the banking system, it is not functioning properly right now. It's taking an awful lot of money to keep it going. You still have all these complaints that the banks aren't lending, but a lot of the banking analysts say the banks aren't lending because they are fighting for survival at this point. And it's critical.
And Suzanne's sound bite from the president-elect, I think, really shows what he has on his plate and what he is facing. And that is, he's got a stimulus. That's maybe $800 billion or so, a stimulus, that's spending in tax cuts. But there is also this bailout of the financial system. He just got the other $350 billion. These are two different things. A lot of people telling me, the stimulus can't help create jobs, unless you can stabilize the banking sector. And they're hoping that many some of these new cracks that are emerging in the banking sector can get fixed pretty soon, Heidi.
COLLINS: Everybody hoping that.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: Certainly. All right. CNN's Christine Romans. Thank you, Christine.
Surviving a plane crash, a terrifying ordeal that can leave both physical and emotional scars. That story, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Kudos to the pilot. We've heard that over and over from survivors of the Airbus that splashed into the Hudson River. The pilot getting all kinds of praise today, for guiding the plane to safety. You might say he had all the right moves. Here to talk about the emergency landing is Jack Barker. He's another Airbus pilot.
Jack, thanks for being with us today. And I do want to ask you about that, because when you are a pilot, the last thing that you probably think about on a routine flight is landing in a river. So tell us a little bit about what could possibly be going through your mind when you make a decision to go to the water instead of the nearest airport. In this case, it was Teterboro.
JACK BARKER, CEO, MACH ONE LEADERSHIP: Well, Heidi, I think as far as making any kind of decisions in an emergency situation, a lot of this goes back to what your training is, which it looks like it was excellent with this crew and with this company.
But when you take off, you're always ready for something that might happen. And if you do lose both engines, at that point you're basically a glider. And I think in this situation, you know, the odds of landing in the river were a lot better than trying to land on the streets of New York City. And that was the decision that was made.
At some point, you're going to run out of altitude and have to put it down somewhere, and that's what happened in this case, it looks like, anyway.
COLLINS: Right. And I'm really interested, too, in the A320. I know some of them are equipped with this ditch switch, and you can explain it better than I can. But basically, anything that would stick out from the bottom of the plane is made smooth, is pulled back into the plane, so that it doesn't act like a scoop, if you will, and maybe cart wheel the aircraft.
BARKER: Yeah. If you think about it, the airplane constantly has air coming into the airplane and air going out for pressurization system. And you get some new air into the airplane. When you press a ditching switch, what it does is seals off everything below the waterline that would allow it could quickly fill with water and sink. So prior to ditching, when you hit the ditch switch, that's going to allow it to float a little bit longer.
COLLINS: Talk a little bit, if you would, Jack, about what happens inside the aircraft when you are going through a safety checklist. I mean, obviously, some very quick decisions, as you said, have to be made. And there are certain very specific things that go on. It's not like pilots fly around and go, well, you know, I'm going to try this, right now. Or I'm going to try to remember what I'm supposed to do. There is a specific checklist.
BARKER: Right. There are specific checklists. When we have time, we can run the specific checklists, but in this case, time was not -- there was not a lot of time available. So I -- and I'm, you know, making an assumption that they just went through what their options were, made the decision to configure for ditching, which is just a few switches, lower the flaps, and you know, land straight ahead, as smoothly as you can in the water.
And if you can involve the rest of the crew, and I think that's the important part of this story, is you have the whole crew, the flight attendants and the pilots that had to work together then to get everybody off the airplane. And I think that's the real story here, is how successful and how well they used the training that they had to get everybody off the airplane, and including the passengers, too. You know, remaining calm and getting everybody out of that airplane.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. In fact, when we talk about this safety checklist, we have learned a little bit about the captain of this plane. He obviously believes a great deal in it. He's taken some of these same concepts and is trying to, with the business that he has, Safety Reliability, trying to bring it to other high-risk industries.
You have done the same exact thing, with a company called Mach One Leadership, where you take some of these same things that are used in the cockpit, the communication system, and you bring it into the medical arena, and trying to reduce human factors, mistakes. Talk about that a little bit, medical error.
BARKER: Right. Medical error kills, you know, inadvertently about 100,000 people a year, preventable medical errors. And what we have done is taken the aviation safety principle, specifically what we call crew resource management, team training, trying to get everybody to be on the same page and work together to avoid errors.
And as a result of that, we've had some great results, you know, reducing errors in the medical community, using this same kind of principles. And it gets back to that whole idea of teamwork. And that's probably, you know, what allowed everybody to get out of that airplane yesterday, is that crew resource management, that team training. And that's what we're finding in the medical industry and other high-risk industries, that the more that they can act as one team and not as a bunch of individuals, the more successful the outcomes are, and the better patient care can be. It works.
COLLINS: Absolutely. There was a actually a study in the "The New England Journal of Medicine," about it, too. We want to talk more about that, hopefully coming up next week. Jack Barker, we sure do appreciate your time here today, as an Airbus pilot and also someone who is familiar with these safety checklists in many different arenas.
Thank you, Jack.
BARKER: My pleasure. Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Surviving a plane crash, a terrifying ordeal, no doubt that, can actually leave both physical and emotional scars. That story, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A terrifying thing for anyone who lives through it, surviving a plane crash can leave survivors both physically and emotionally traumatized. Joining us now to talk a little bit more about that, CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
So, first, Elizabeth, get us up to speed on physical injuries.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDNET: Right, the physical injuries: We're told that 15 people were taken to area hospitals and Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that none of the injuries appear serious, which, of course, is a wonderful thing.
Most of the hospitalizations were for hypothermia, or people who went to the hospital. For example, there was an elderly couple, a husband and wife who were treated early on for hypothermia. One flight attendant broke her leg, and we're told that she had surgery. And we're told that passengers should expect, you know, bumps and bruises.
COLLINS: Oh, yeah.
COHEN: It is sort of like being in a rear-end collision. We've all experienced some form of a car accident, and you feel it the next day/
COLLINS: Floating on water.
COHEN: Yeah.
COLLINS: Yeah.
COHEN: In a very large car.
COLLINS: The story that always sticks out to me is the one about the baby. I think about the potential, you know, hypothermia and the physical injury when you're so little.
COHEN: Of course, hypothermia is going to be much more serious for a baby or for an older person than for someone like you or me.
COLLINS: Absolutely. Well, the psychological, though, impact of all of this. Long-lasting, you get over it, different for everybody?
COHEN: You know, it really is different for everyone. That's what psychiatrists who I talked to really stressed. If when you walked on that plane, if you were someone who suffered from depression or suffered from anxiety, this is not going to be a good experience for you. I mean, this can really make life a lot worse. The world is going to feel like a scarier place. But if you were someone who walked on that flight, you know, with your mental health intact, that's not necessarily going to be true. You're not going to suffer in this same way.
COLLINS: Good. And it's probably true, is it not? That this could actually be a positive experience for some people?
COHEN: Absolutely. That's what the psychiatrist I talked to said, that it could be very life-affirming. For example, there was one passenger who had an interesting comment on that. Let's listen to him and hear what he had had to say, one of the survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like a million bucks, man! Yeah!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: I feel like a million bucks. That's not what you would expect to hear from someone who just got off a plane that had to crashed into the Hudson River. But he survived it, and he helped other people. And it makes you feel good that you're alive, and that you managed to help other people.
You know what's interesting, Heidi, when I was driving home after reporting on this last night, I felt great. And I think what's going on is that for many of us, you get to see a system that worked. So much is not working in this country right now, that to see a group of people who got it together, and who helped others. That's a wonderful thing. It's very life-affirming for all of us.
COLLINS: Yeah. And it is a system, very important to point out there.
COHEN: Exactly.
COLLINS: That is with everything, with the crew, the rescuers, everybody went through it.
COHEN: This wasn't by accident.
COLLINS: Even the passengers, too.
COHEN: Right, absolutely.
COLLINS: Everybody followed directions. We love to see it. All right. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
COLLINS: They all did make it out alive. The survivors from Flight 1549 tell their stories. Our T.J. Holmes catches up with some of them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A busy morning here in the CNN NEWSROOM. In fact, we are waiting to hear from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sometime this hour. He's going to be commenting, of course, on the plane crash in the Hudson River yesterday. Joining him will be some of the first responders, and also the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker. When it happens, we of course will bring it to you live. Running a little late this morning there.
And the latest details now on that US Airways jet that crashed into the Hudson. A team of federal aviation investigators at the crash site in New York. They are working on recovering the plane's flight data recorders. They are planning to interview the pilot, of course, of Flight 1549, and the co-pilot, as well.
They and the rest of the flight crew receiving a whole lot of praise this morning for getting all 150 passengers safely out of the aircraft after the emergency water landing. The plane went down a few minutes after taking off from LaGuardia Airport yesterday. Witnesses report seeing a flock of birds hit the plane. An airline official says initial reports indicate both engines failed.
So just imagine, you survive a plane crash, and then you have to get back on another plane to complete your trip. And that's what passengers of Flight 1549 had to do. Our T.J. Holmes met up with some of them in Charlotte, North Carolina. Not an easy thing to do, T.J., for a lot of people, I'm sure.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it might not have been easy for you, it wouldn't have been easy for me, but they were itching to get on another flight. Heidi, listen to this. There was a man I talked to who survived. He said literally when he was rescued and got on a ferry, he got on a cell phone and was making a call to the airline to book another flight because he wanted so badly just to get home. I was amazed.
But you're right. According to the airline, 104 passengers who were on that flight actually had Charlotte, North Carolina, where I am, as their final destination. This was home. So, many of them wanted to get back.
Others did have to be tended to up in New York and whatnot. But many others couldn't wait to get back, and we caught up with them. They got here at about midnight last night. Now, we wondered, a lot of reporters who were gathered, as we roll some of this video for you, were wondering, what does a flight crash, survivor look like? You know, a lot of us, when we travel, we look kind of a mess. We all like we've been beat up and battered and bruised a little bit. But we noticed them because they were wearing these badges of honor, literally, their Red Cross white blankets, they had them on as badges of honor.
They might as well be wearing T-shirts that said, I survived the miracle on the Hudson. Almost proud and excited that they survived this plane crash. Take a listen to some of the stories they had to tell us when they got here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were hitting that Hudson River with full impact, and it went boom! And then we stopped. And then we looked out, and they said, you know, like, brace and so forth. But we all wanted to see what was going to happen, whether we were going to die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably the most amazing moment in my life. Honestly, there was a lady and a child, and she was trying to climb over the seats, because everybody was like -- it was like rats, I mean. You know, for the most part everybody was well-behaved, and everybody was organized. But she got blocked off, and I grabbed her and her child and walked them to the exit, and from there, Josh, I believe, got them on to the raft. But, I'll never get over it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we got outside and in the cold water, and I mean, the water was cold. I mean, within seconds, my legs were numb, standing in the water. So, I'm guessing it was, you know, 30, 40 degrees. It was ugly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire and rescue up in New York, if you're going to go down in an incident, you want to be in New York, I promise you. Those people took care of us. The ferryboat drivers, the fire and rescue, they were on top of it, took us out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This pilot, and if this guy doesn't get the recognition he needs...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is the reason my daughter, my two-and-a- half-year-old, has a dad and my wife still has a husband.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Yes. And in the interest -- certainly some emotional things we're hearing there. But in the interest of full disclosure, Heidi, we wondered, many of these people after going through this life-changing, traumatic experience, a near-death, really, some of them felt like they had just gone through, what they really want to see cameras when they arrived back home finally?
They were itching to talk to us, Heidi. Quite frankly, they had been on the plane, they had been served free drinks the whole way from New York, so they were all feeling pretty good. And, you know, it is an emotional thing. But they were literally happy to be alive, and happy to share that experience. So, it was quite a sight here and a scene at the airport to hear them tell their stories.
COLLINS: yes, absolutely. And you can't blame them one bit for being a little jubilant maybe with the glass. Sure do appreciate that.
HOLMES: Not at all.
COLLINS: T.J. Holmes, thanks so much.
HOLMES: It's starting to help.
COLLINS: Yes. Usually does. All right, T.J.
Now, listen to this, on the phone with us now, one of of the people that we have been hearing so much about regarding the rescuers, Jessica Wolchak with the U.S. Coast Guard. Now, she was among the first responders helping rescue passengers from the downed plane.
Jessica, if you can hear me, thanks so much for being with us. Tell us a little bit about exactly what you were doing. You were in on radio communications, right?
VOICE OF JESSICA WOLCHAK, U.S. COAST GUARD: Hello, Heidi, yes, I was on communications. I was the officer of the day and received a phone call about the plane, and I was in charge.
COLLINS: What was that phone call? What did they say? And who was it?
WOLCHAK: It was our district. And they contacted us, and let us know that there was a plane in the water, and there were people on top of the plane, and at that --
COLLINS: What did you think? Did you realize that it was an airliner, or did you first think, well, maybe it's, you know, a smaller jet, something coming out of Teterboro, or a smaller civilian aircraft like a Cessna or something?
WOLCHAK: At first we didn't know the size of it, and we launched and we got our assets out there. And we once they gathered up the information, we found out the severity, and we got even more assets out there. The timing of it happened all so quick, and our response was very quick.
COLLINS: It sure was. Talk about your training and the actual feeling that you have when you use it.
WOLCHAK: It's incredible. You just go through the motions. You know exactly what you're supposed to do because of the training. So it made everything very easy to follow.
COLLINS: Well, that's good. Were you cold? It sounds like a ridiculous question. But it's certainly one of the challenges in a rescue like this. WOLCHAK: Of course. Of course. But just the concentration on making sure that everybody made it out of the water. You didn't have time to think about yourself and how cold you were.
COLLINS: Were there any passengers or people that you were able to help in all of this that really stood out to you?
WOLCHAK: No. I myself, when I got on-scene, was transporting people, transporting FDNY and NYPD. The personnel had already been pulled out of the water. We were doing counts to ensure everybody was out. So I myself did not pull anyone out.
COLLINS: Well, regardless, you were there when it all happened, and you made it to the scene, and you certainly were integral in all of this. It must be fabulous to hear the words that we have heard from a lot of the passengers saying things like, if you are going to have something awful happen, you want it to happen in New York.
Jessica Wolchak, we sure do appreciate it, with the U.S. Coast Guard.
WOLCHAK: Thank you.
COLLINS: One hundred fifty-five passengers and crew surviving the crash into the frigid Hudson River. Many of them telling their stories right here on CNN. We wanted to share an earlier conversation from CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," when our Kiran Chetry asked one of the survivors about the moment he knew something was wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED BERRETTA, US AIRWAYS CRASH SURVIVOR: It made a loud noise, and looked out and saw the smoke and flames coming out of the rear of the engine, and knew that it was pretty much a dead engine at that point. And was hoping that the right engine was working.
KIRAN CHETRY, ANCHOR, CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING": And when did you guys quickly become aware that that was not the case as well, that, in fact, you guys had lost both engines on this plane?
BERRETTA: We were talking to the passengers on the right side of the plane, and were asking them, hey, what's going on? You know, is that engine working? And unfortunately, we got a bad response. Said no. And at that point, you could pretty much feel that we were just kind of gliding.
CHETRY: And what was the mood like in the plane, I mean, knowing that, OK, both engines are out, you guys are going to have to make some sort of landing at this point, and really, it's out of your hands?
BERRETTA: Well, it was actually just very somber, sullen, and people were quiet. Not a lot of panic, not a lot of screaming. Everyone was just stunned and kind of waiting for the pilot to tell us what was going to happen next. And he came on and said, prepare for impact. And at that point, pretty much knew that we were going in the water.
CHETRY: OK. Tell us a little bit about when the plane actually came in. You realized you were going to try to go down in the Hudson, and you were needing to prepare for being in the water.
BERRETTA: When we hit the water, it was a pretty big jolt. And don't have much of a recollection of that. It was just kind of jostling around. And was just glad the plane was intact, and at that point,
OK, we're through phase one of this. Let's just get out of this airplane. And go on to the next phase. And hopefully we'll, you know, make it from there.
CHETRY: Von, I want you to talk a little bit about what that initial call was like. Did you guys know what you were dealing with, that for the most part, a lot of survivors that needed to be plucked out of the water?
VON RANKIN, FIRST RESPONDER, U.S. COAST GUARD: Well, the initial call we got was just a plane -- a reported plane in the water. So, I didn't know the intensity of how many people were in the water until I -- about two minutes away from the crash. Once on scene, saw the FDNY and NYPD boats and the ferries, a lot of debris in the water, and just said to my crew, have to prepare to get the people out of the water as safe and as fast as possible.
CHETRY: And that's the other amazing part, Fred, is how, first of all, how quickly they were able to do that. But you guys seemed so orderly. I mean, what was it like as you were -- the plane's filling up with water, people are making decisions as to where they're going to go, one woman had a baby. How did it appear so orderly?
BERRETTA: It went, I think, as smoothly as it could have. I don't know how to describe it. Everything just worked out really well. The passengers were as orderly as I think you can be in that situation. They were helping each other. They weren't just looking out for themselves, and people were helping folks get out on the wing or get on the raft. It went very, very quickly. And everyone was off the plane. And the emergency response was tremendous.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And we are awaiting to hear from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, coming up very shortly. A few minutes ago, we got the five-minute warning. So it could be any minute away now with more on this incredible story.
Joining him will be some first responders and the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker. So just as soon as it happens, we will bring it to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are waiting to hear from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sometime this hour. Could be any minute now. And joining him will be some first responders and the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker, of course going to be commenting on the plane crash into the Hudson River yesterday. When it happens, we'll bring it right out to you, live.
Everybody's talking about it this morning: how the pilot and crew of flight 1549 made all of the right moves to save the day and the passengers. Incredible stories of survival. Joing us now with your e-mails and iReports, CNN's Josh Levs. It certainly is much more than water cooler talk this morning.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, when is the last time we had an e-mail question to the viewers and everyone was so jubilant, you know?
COLLINS: Yeah, I know. I love that. What do you have?
LEVS: It's incredible. Let's zoom in on the board. We'll get in as many as we can before that presser starts. We've been asking you this morning, write your thoughts, cnnnewsroom@CNN.com. Look at this: "I have been a firefighter-paramedic for 30 years and involved in major aircraft rescues in the past. This was the best of the best. Kudos to everyone. Have one on me!" That's from Al in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"New York, you have made our country proud. To all the responders to Flight 1549, thank you for the incredible job you did. I love New York!" Eileen Clark of Woodbury, Connecticut. "We should all feel thankful and humbled by the miraculous task Mr. Sullenberger performed. I have a higher level of comfort knowing that there are pilots like him at the helm of our commercial aircraft." That's from Robert.
"I couldn't help but think," this is interesting, " 'Thank God the passengers did not behave like those involved in the stampede at Wal-Mart on Black Friday." That's from Isabel. And I think we've got time for two more here. "Instead of any passengers suing the airlines for any effects of the trauma, I think they should all contribute to a college fund for the children of the pilot, co-pilot and crew." That's from Brian in Boynton Beach.
And we'll end with this, from A. Crone: "Our politicians and corporate bigwigs could take some cues from all of these people and character and service departments." A. Crone there, Spokane, Washington. Keep them coming, folks. Cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. We're going to keep an eye on them. We'll keep bringing you some right here on TV. And Heidi, as you can see, everybody's taking part in that celebration of what really is a miraculous save there.
COLLINS: Yes, and they should. Very well-deserved. Thanks so much, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks a lot.
COLLINS: Appreciate that.
Winter's latest arctic blast still blowing and now spreading. Some of the coldest temperatures in years being felt from the Northern Plains, the East Coast and down in the South. Chicago's temperature this morning, 17 below zero. And that's without the wind chill. The mercury plummeted as low as 25 below zero in parts of New York State overnight. The Buffalo area also getting that lake-effect snow that I'm sure they love so well with all of the cold.
Rob Marciano standing by to talk a little bit more about this. And it just, it does, it just looks painfully cold in a lot of those pictures.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When you see the steam coming out, you know, you just can feel how that cold air hurts in your lungs. This keeps up, and Lake Erie, just west of Buffalo where they get their lake-effect snow, is going to be frozen over pretty quickly. It usually does as we get towards February, but it may very well do it earlier than normal this year.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Rob, forgive me, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg, we have been waiting to hear from him on the US Airways crash. So let's go ahead and listen in, because you see quite a group of people gathered behind him, including first responders. And also we've been reporting that we would hear from the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker, as well. We also see Ray Kelly behind him there.
So we'll just wait for a couple of seconds for everyone to get in the room and get in place. But, again, we have waiting to hear from the New York mayor on this incredible event that took place yesterday, Flight 1549. Let's go ahead and listen in.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Well, good morning. First, let me say that Governor Paterson wanted to be here today, but unfortunately, he had to attend a funeral of -- and he wanted me to express his congratulations to all of those people standing here that we're going to talk about. The governor was with us yesterday, but his -- he had to do a -- give a eulogy.
Just yesterday, as you know, in my State of the City speech, I talked about the indomitable spirit of our city. And I said that no matter how bad things get, New Yorkers can get through anything, as long as they work together. And almost immediately after I finished the speech, I think we proved that once again.
When a US Airways pilot made an incredibly skillful emergency landing in the Hudson River, New Yorkers wasted no time in helping the plane's passengers get to safety. Our finest and bravest -- workers from the Office of Emergency Management, the Port Authority Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, ferry crews from New York Waterways and Circle Line, EMT -- and everyday citizens made split-second decisions that resulted in a dramatic rescue.
And because of their efforts and the calm, steady leadership shown by the plane's pilot and crew, miraculously, all 155 people on that plane made it to safety. We saw a lot of heroism in the Hudson yesterday. Unfortunately, one of those heroes, the plane's pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, couldn't be here. He is not able to speak to the media while the NTSB is conducting its investigation.
Hemingway defined heroism once as grace under pressure, and I think it's fair to say that Captain Sullenberger displayed that yesterday. And his brave actions have inspired millions of people in the city and millions more around the world. I have a key to the city right here. And this is what it looks like, for those of you that have never seen one. And I'm going to hold on to it until we have the opportunity to present it to the incredibly brave pilot, co-pilot and the crew of US Airways Flight 1549.
Many of those who aided in the rescue efforts yesterday were our neighbors from across the other side of the Hudson, New Jersey. And I wanted to make mention of them and give them credit for all their incredible efforts, as well. From the Red Cross workers who helped keep people warm to the emergency service personnel who transported passengers to New Jersey hospitals.
One of the reasons that our rescue effort was so successful yesterday is that we were prepared, and we have three of our commissioners here who I wanted to point out, Ray Kelly of the NYPD, Nick Scapetta of the FDNY and Joe Bruno of the Office of Emergency Management to thank for that. Our emergency response agencies, police, fire and the Office of Emergency Management routinely conduct simulations and drills to strengthen their disaster capabilities.
We also have a very sound command structure that clearly lays out how emergency response agencies teams should work together and yesterday I think they did that beautifully. And I'd just like to take the opportunity now to recognize some members of the emergency response teams who really distinguished themselves yesterday and to present them with certificates of honor.
All of the training -- which nobody pays much attention to when we do it, but when we need it, it has thankfully been done -- I think was demonstrated yesterday. If you want to know why our emergency responders work so hard and what they do normally, day in and day out, it's getting ready for those few times, thankfully not that many, but those few times when incredible heroism and cooperation and skills all have to be brought together. And you saw that yesterday.
So, I'm going to call the names of some of the recipients and give them a certificate. We have fancier ones being printed, which they will get. But at the moment, we have a sort of made-up one that just expresses our thanks. We didn't want to have to wait. So from the police department, first NYPD Sergeant Michael McGinnis (ph). And it even has your name on it. Congratulations.
SGT. MICHAEL MCGINNIS (ph), NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you.
BLOOMBERG: Emergency service detectives James Cole (ph) and John McKenna (ph). That should be yours. And, oh, there you are. Detective Shawn Mulcahy (ph) and detective Robert Murfield (ph). Say cheese for the cameras. And NYPD scuba divers detectives Michael Delaney (ph) and Robert Rodriguez (ph). I pointed out yesterday when I saw them, they were in their dry suits. Those were dry suits? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BLOOMBERG: All the best. Congratulations.
Now, from the FDNY Marine Company One, Captain Richard Johnson (ph). Captain? Pilot Robert Spardaro (ph). Marine engineer Pat Assestargar (ph). Did I get that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty close.
(LAUGHTER)
BLOOMBERG: I have trouble with Bloomberg. Thank you. Firefighter John Rizzo (ph). And firefighter Tom Sullivan (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mayor.
BLOOMBERG: Oh, you're welcome.
Now, for our members of Ladder Company 21, Captain Pat Lawler (ph). Paul Lawler (ph). Paul Lawler (ph). Captain? Firefighter Michael Puvolney (ph). Firefighter Brian McLaughlin (ph). And firefighter Stephen Arts (ph).
Then we have EMS personnel, Lt. Luis Corales (ph). EMT Terrence Troldardot (ph). And EMF -- EMT Ephriam Yahossef (ph). Congratulations.
And from our Office of Emergency Management, planning specialist, Aaron McLatchlin (ph). From the Port Authority, Police Captain Kevin Feeney (ph). Kevin? And Officer John Rice (ph).
Now, another big part of responding to disaster, as you know, is the ability to think on your feet and to be innovative with the resources at your disposal. Our finest and bravest do that every day, and yesterday I think the whole world saw just how good they are. Many other New Yorkers showed that same determination to do everything possible immediately to help those in need.
For example, when our firefighters arrived at the scene yesterday, you should know that Circle Line sightseeing had a boat full of tourists in the harbor. the Circle Line crew, led by general manager Andres Sapak (ph) and boat Captain Michael Duffy (ph), quickly got all of the passengers off of the ferry so that our firefighters, rescue workers and divers could get on, and make their way out to the crash site. And to everyone at Circle Line, I'd just like to say thanks for your quick thinking and for letting us borrow the boat. We did give it back at the end of the day.
This is a story of heroes, something straight out of a movie script. But if it had been a movie, people probably wouldn't have believed it. It was too good to be true. The perfect landing, the phenomenal response, the rescue of every single person. But if there ever is a movie, one of the star characters, along with Chesley Sullenberg III will undoubtedly be Allen Warren (ph), New York Waterways director of ferry operations. Allen gave the order to send the first ferries out to the crash site and to set up triage stations at points along the harbor.
New Yorkers will long remember the images of passengers making their ways across the planes' wings to the safety of those boats. And at yesterday's press conference, I think Allen (ph) was very humble about his actions. He said it wasn't even something he thought about. He and his crew just reacted the way they were trained to do.
I happen to think it was a lot more than that. And Allen, I just wanted to thank you for all of your -- and all your crew, for their extraordinary efforts. And to everyone at New York Waterway, including Allen Imperatori (ph), Sr., -- Arthur Imperatori (ph), Sr. and Arthur Imperatori (ph), Jr., and Bill Wachtel (ph). And as a small token of our appreciation that New Yorkers have for these heroes, we have three more certificates to honor Allen Warren (ph), Andres Sapak (ph) and Michael Duffy (ph). Oh, there you are.
Congratulations to all of you. The group that is today -- with us today is responsible for a great success. But it is also representative of an awful lot of people who participated in the heroic rescue. Now, we know there were others, and we're happy to present them with certificates, as well, and we'll try to get as inclusive a group as we possibly can. But pulling together the names this morning, we just wanted to get a little bit from each area because they do represent all of the men and women that they work with and train with every single day.
