But first we turn to this story that captivated the nation and it does so to this day,
the miracle on the Hudson that successful
emergency landing of a flight bound for Charlotte
in New York's Hudson River, all 155 people on board survived.
Now, WCNC Charlotte sent a crew to New York hours after this happened and tonight,
we're hearing from them about what it was like
to witness and then report really on history.
WCNC Charlotte's Michelle Bowden
also covered the story and joins us. Now, with this unique angle,
I was actually sent to the Charlotte airport.
We assumed loved ones would gather there as they typically
do when a plane crash is awaiting word on survivors.
But here's the crazy part. The best part,
no one showed up because everyone made it and my colleagues
and friends got to cover that part of this amazing story.
Every newsroom has a wall of TV.
S and on this day,
every TV showed the same picture departing uh laguardia Airport for Charlotte,
North Carolina today.
And I walked in and could see the TV sets in the newsroom
and I wasn't sure what I was looking at,
it looked like a plane in the water with people standing
on the wing.
Veteran reporter Rad Burkey was standing in the WCNC newsroom on January 15th,
2009.
The bosses came over and said, you, you and Jen are going
to New York to cover this within the hour.
They were at Charlotte Douglas and on a plane to
cover another plane that would soon become part of history.
We had to be alive at 11
with something.
So if we could get to where the plane was,
but then I thought we're gonna have to go to hospitals and do the
the families at the hospitals. Some would be
mourning,
some would be praying.
Um
But everybody was alive.
Both thought they were headed to cover a plane crash, a terrible tragedy
until Rad made a quick call to check in with his
wife back here in Charlotte who was glued to news coverage.
And she said at this point as far as we know everybody's alive. So when we get there,
instead of what we thought could possibly be just one
of the worst tragedies we would ever go through.
Everybody was alive.
Everybody was happy. Nobody expected it was gonna be like that
getting up there in the nick of time to do the 11 o'clock news
and then standing out there freezing
with this massive plane behind us sticking out of the water.
There was talk he was headed for Teterboro across the dark river in New Jersey.
And I thought, how did this stay together?
How did this plane
stay together? And
what those passengers standing on the wings
must have wondered everyone lived.
We were able to go be a part of history.
History. Absolutely. Part of history. You just felt New York City
take a breath
when you think back 15 years ago, that's a lot closer to 911 than where we are now
to see a plane flying erratically around New York City
that sent chills of sines of people.
But then to find out
that it's, it's gonna land in the Hudson river
and the man in the cockpit managed to bring
it in safely without that plane breaking apart.
You just can't imagine ever telling a story like that
the pilot chose his only alternative,
the river and he did it safely. Even that night people started calling it a miracle.
Yes, this was a miracle. Um Was
you heard a lot that night that this was a miracle?
I think everybody who was there covering it
thought it was gonna be a lot worse. I was just so relieved
that everybody was
ok.
Rad has since retired, but like me still stays in touch with some of the passengers.
We both agree.
It is one of the coolest stories we've ever been lucky enough to tell back to you
a miracle. Indeed.
Stuff. I know.
Well,
tonight at 830 we do invite you to walk back in time
with us and watch our coverage from that day 15 years ago.
In our latest from the archives episode,
you're gonna see more from our crews on that chaotic day
as the dramatic landing unfolded in New York.
So you can check this episode out where you stream content
and this will only be on the WCNC Plus app. So many parts of that story.
But the skill of sully to bring that plane down. Wow.