Ric Elias

We were coming out of the financial crisis of, well, wait, this country was in a low place looking for a story.

So we were really lucky that we had the most incredible pilot.

on that seat that day that in many ways, and we can talk about him, he'd been preparing for that moment his whole life.

He was a gliding instructor.

Later on, I got to know him really well.

And he would say, you're only a pilot when you lose an engine.

Otherwise, you're just managing the autopilot or whatever the inputs in the computer.

And that day, it was a New York call day.

I was coming home to Charlotte.

My biggest concern was landing and coaching my son's basketball practice.

And as we take off, there's a large explosion in the plane.

Half asleep as you're taking off, you realize, I look at the flight attendant and I'm in 1D so I can see the flight attendant.

There's nothing in their face, just like annoyance.

It's like there's going to be whatever because we turn the plane right away and nothing is happening.

Smoke is coming in.

You can hear the engine struggling, but you think we're just going to go back landing.

We're not that high, probably 3,000, 4,000 feet high.

And then all of a sudden, Sully gets on the microphone and says, this is your captain.

So he identifies himself and he says three words, the only three words he said.

And this was the moment.