New York Mayor Bloomberg Praises Work of Plane Rescuers; Pilot's Wife Describes Family's Reaction
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Let me make one final point. In the State of the City yesterday, I spent a lot of time discussing the challenges we face. And yes, those challenges really are very real. But looking back at the events of the last 20-odd hours, I don't see how we can help but not be optimistic. We here live in a city filled with people who are able to face any challenge, and overcome any obstacle when they work together. And that really does make not just me, but all of us so proud to be New Yorkers today and every day. There's someone else who's probably pretty proud today, as well, and that is the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker. Doug, would you like to say a few words?</s>DOUG PARKER, U.S. AIRWAYS CEO: I'd love to. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg, for the invitation to join you here today. Let me first say how happy, yes, proud, and relieved we are for our passengers, our crew, and their families. Yesterday's response was simply amazing. On behalf of the entire US Airways family, we're extremely grateful for the way the people of New York City and the surrounding areas pulled together to help the passengers and crew -- excuse me -- of Flight 1549. We would like to publicly thank the local New York and New Jersey police and fire departments, the U.S. Coast Guard, the New York harbor master, the mini ferryboat operators and New York water taxis, the New York Port Authority and the EMTs who came to our aid yesterday. We also want to thank the Office of Emergency Management for the city of New York, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and all the other agencies and organizations who were part of the outstanding team effort. Now, I, like the rest of you, are extremely proud of our crew for their quick and heroic actions. Today, they are safe and doing well. And along with many other members of the US Airways team, are assisting with the official investigation. Our crew members also, though, want to extend their thanks to all of the organizations that are represented here that I just mentioned. And I'm just -- I'm honored to, on their behalf, thank all of you for what you did for our crews and for our passengers and all their families. It's a truly remarkable effort, as the mayor just said. Yesterday's event unfolded in a matter of minutes, determining exactly what happened will take much longer than that. And the NTSB is here and taking the lead on this investigation, and we at US Airways are doing everything we can -- will continue to do whatever we can to assist them in that effort. In the meantime, our continued focus and support will be on our passengers, their families and our very brave crew. And, again, on all of their behalf, thank you all so very, very much. We -- truly, truly appreciate it.</s>BLOOMBERG: Doug, thank you. Before we take some questions, I would just like to have a little wrap-up for those that find Spanish easier to understand.</s>TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, why don't we do this? Why don't we just take a moment here and get a bit of a reset. Tremendous remarks from Mayor Bloomberg. He said just moments ago this was a story of heroes, acknowledging the tremendous work of the city's first responders. You heard there from CEO -- the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker. There was plenty of praise for the pilot of that aircraft, Flight 1549, Captain Chesley Sullenberger. The captain and crew will be receiving the key to the city from New York's mayor soon. And then all of the praise for the first responders, New York's police department. The divers, the Coast Guard, the Office of Emergency Management, New York's fire department, all responding. Look at these pictures. There is a lot to get to. We will maybe, perhaps, go back to the mayor's press conference when the question and answer period begins. OK. It is under way. Let's take you back to New York City.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pulled out of our Pier 79 Street terminal in New York at 3:30. As I turned the boat around and started to pull out to the main channel, I looked up and I said to my deck hand, that's an odd-looking boat. He goes, I think that's an airplane.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I said, OK. So we get the man overboard equipment ready, we radioed the Coast Guard on VHF 16. And we got to it. Then we do what we do best.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just what went through your mind when you first saw that plane in the water? What were you thinking?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a little overwhelmed. A little scared for the people. I know the water is about 32 degrees. The outside air temp was in the 20s. And I was worried if we didn't get them out right away, there would have been casualties.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What was the reaction of the people that were rescued, the first -- what's the impression that</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few people were cheering. There were people crying. Get me out of the water, please, I'm cold.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What is the amount of time -- or maybe if there's another person from the fire department, I'm not sure, or EMS worker, but what is the amount of time in the river yesterday that, you know, there would have been death? You know how much time -- what was the window you had to work with?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they were completely submerged, I'd say about five minutes. Hypothermia could have set in.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So someone, in your opinion, could have died in a matter of five minutes or so in that water.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. If we weren't there in another few minutes and got them on board and got them warm, they could have died.</s>BLOOMBERG: We have our EMT chief who wants to talk.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the -- with the air temperature and the water temperature, we think someone who might have been submerged in the water for two to three minutes could have suffered severe hypothermia and could have possibly had lethal consequences.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Give us your name. Give us your affiliation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Peruggia.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P-E-R-U-G-G-I-A. I'm the chief EMS with the fire department.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly there -- the rescue efforts by the watercraft and getting the people out of water was important and getting them back to buildings where we had good temperature so that our responders could then begin to assess them. It was very important in this effort.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How quickly did the scuba divers get into the water?</s>BLOOMBERG: Say again.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The scuba divers. How quickly did they get there?</s>BLOOMBERG: We have a couple of them here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were assigned to air-sea rescue which is -- we are two divers that were assigned to a helicopter that turned out at Floyd</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What was the most dramatic moment of today that will stick in your mind?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we pulled up on to the scene, we saw one person, one female that was in obvious distress. She was holding on to one of the ferryboats. And we saw that -- we pretty much saw the distress that was in her face. We deployed from the helicopter, swam to her immediately, and pulled her off the side of that boat and swam her over to another ferryboat, which that crew assisted us in getting her up on to the boat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When you got the call, what did you think you were getting into?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one really knew the size of the operation that this was going to be. When we heard the job come over the radio, we assumed that it was maybe like a very small plane, maybe a two- person plane. But as we're coming up on to the scene, I looked out the front window, we saw that it was actual full-size aircraft with a lot -- you know, a lot of people already out of the air - out of the plane, and on to the -- on to the wing and on to life boats.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you think that everybody was going to make it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never really was a thought at the time. We were just there to help the -- help the people that we could at the time so.</s>BLOOMBERG: Let me -- all the way in the back there.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, how strong was the current? It looked like the plane was actually moving at a very -- how complicated did that make your effort?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think at the -- I think at the time the boat -- the current was probably moving in about 2 to 3 knots. So -- which at the time was very swift. You know, we deployed out of the helicopter in the area of the Intrepid, and before you knew it, we were well south of there. We were closer to Chelsea Piers at the time.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you performed other rescues like this, and how does this compare? And tell us a little bit about your training. The mayor mentioned you train for these things.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do do a lot of training, along with emergency service and the fire department. But in my experiences, we have never dealt with something of this size.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detective Delaney.</s>D-E-L-A-N-E-Y. BLOOMBERG: Delaney is going to do the Spanish. Rodriguez is not.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Delaney, by the way.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.</s>BLOOMBERG: Guys, thank you. Other questions? Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We've heard about people who were terrified and scared. Was there anyone who you were surprised that they were so calm after surviving a plane crash?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a few people that were in a panic situation. But all in all, everyone was very calm. It was very controlled. A lot of people were off on a life raft, and they were just waiting for their time to just be picked up out of the water by the crew of the ferryboats and the fire department and emergency service.</s>BLOOMBERG: We're going to give you some Spanish -- I'll translate for him afterwards.</s>BLOOMBERG: If you have a question...</s>HARRIS: How about this? Just the descriptions of the scene that was unfolding for first responders yesterday, as they quickly went about the job of, yes, doing their jobs, rescuing the passengers and crew, all 155 of them, of Flight 1549 yesterday, a plane that wasn't where it was supposed to be. Drifting down the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan. Look at these pictures. You're looking at what everyone seems to agree now was a miracle. We're talking about an astonishing series of events, cool heads, quick-thinking that kept 155 people alive. Investigators right now preparing to pull the US Airways jet out of the Hudson River with a giant crane. But focus on these pictures here. Their main focus today retrieving flight data recorders and interviewing the crew. The image you will all remember, you'll see it here in a second. Talk about a wing and a prayer. There were passengers who appeared to be walking on water. You know the shot that I'm talking about here, survivors standing just mere inches above the frigid Hudson River, just minutes after their terrifying plunge from the sky. And here is how it all went down. 3:26 p.m., US Airways Flight 1549 takes off from LaGuardia. Less than a minute later, the pilot radios controllers reporting a double bird strike. He said he needed to return to the airport, then changed his mind and said he wanted to go to a closer airport in New Jersey. The plane never made it that far. The pilot circled around then issued an ominous warning, "brace for impact." Boy, passengers from Flight 1549 who made it on to Charlotte, North Carolina, sharing their amazing survival stories. CNN's T.J. Holmes has been talking with some of them. He joins us now from Charlotte. And T.J., did I really hear what I thought I heard in your reporting last hour that you talked to a guy who survived the ditching, and before he was on dry land was making a call to book his next flight? Did I hear that from you?</s>T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Not before -- not before he was on dry land. Before he had time to call his sons, his wife, his anybody, he was on the phones talking to US Airways, trying to get another flight...</s>HARRIS: Oh boy.</s>HOLMES: ... out of New York.</s>HARRIS: Wow.</s>HOLMES: That gives you a sense of -- as traumatic and dramatic as we think of a plane crash, this was really quite a calm thing for a lot of these people. They didn't have a lot of time to panic, from the time they heard, hey, brace for impact, there was impact. They didn't have a lot of time to figure out what was going on, to even get scared in a lot of ways. And we hear from a lot of them, boom, we hit, it was over. It was done. Now here, Tony, a big question last night was, what does a flight crash survivor look like? You know, we knew some people were coming back.</s>HARRIS: Hey,</s>T.J. HOLMES: We didn't know what's they...</s>HARRIS: T.J., I...</s>HOLMES: Yes, we know you've got to get back, go ahead.</s>HARRIS: Yes. I apologize. Let's get you back to the mayor's news conference in New York City. Thanks,</s>T.J. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victims approximated were about two. That's -- that's the two that we actually took out of the water, away from the plane itself.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.</s>BLOOMBERG: No, but they do train with the NYPD, and with the FDNY and with the Coast Guard and with the Port Authority. You know, you can't do anything in a vacuum. And nobody does anything by themselves. And that's one of the things that we focus on in this city, is being able to marshal both public and private resources, security we do. The police commissioner, Ray Kelly, as you know, works very hard with the private security agencies in different buildings. The doormen in this city are the eyes and the ears of the police department. They are the ones when the firefighters show up direct them right away to the right apartment. It's a collaborative effort. Ray, do you want to add something or...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said something about the response time. We had a -- small rescue boat, Marine Company 1 Alpha, was at the Hudson River and</s>BLOOMBERG: Well, New York -- New York Waterways was there in about four minutes. Ray?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was a little quicker than that.</s>BLOOMBERG: Quicker than that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we believe that it was less than four minutes, and New York Waterway was present on the scene. So it was remarkable response. As our divers said, they were there five minutes after they got the call. But New York Waterways was clearly the first entity that was present.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What was the most serious injury among the passengers and/or among rescuers?</s>BLOOMBERG: I don't think there was anybody seriously injured.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crew members...</s>BLOOMBERG: Crew member?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... had a gash on her</s>BLOOMBERG: A stewardess?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stewardess.</s>BLOOMBERG: A stewardess with a broken leg, we think. But in the contrast, again...</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there anybody in this room who was in one of the rafts with the pilots or the co-pilots who could tell us something about that? And...</s>BLOOMBERG: Pilots or co-pilot ever got -- did not talk to the press. They were -- the pilot was helpful in assuring us that there was nobody left on the plane, and other than that, he is required by the National Transportation Safety Board to not say anything. And all the speculation about what everybody is talking about just doesn't add anything. We've got these people -- well-trained, and they're not going to get in the way of the investigation. Yes, miss.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The investigation about how the pilot was after the...</s>BLOOMBERG: He was -- he was as cool and calm. I was with him. And he was as cool and calm as you would -- could possibly hope for. And in all fairness, as you would expect from a pilot for a great airline with an enormous amount of experience and training. And I think U.S. Air is proud of them. Yes, sir -- miss.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can anyone speak to what the environmental impact might be as having the plane in the water?</s>BLOOMBERG: I don't know that it's leaked anything or that there's anything that would be negligible, if anything. The plane didn't break up because of the way the pilot landed it. And so the fuel tanks didn't split open. They'll take great care as they try to pick it out of the water to make sure that doesn't happen. Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I know the department can't speak about the specific incident, but maybe can you tell us a little bit about how</s>PARKER: I'm happy to tell you I can't tell you anything.</s>PARKER: Seriously. In all -- in all fairness, I mean, even -- the crew members -- we haven't disclosed the names of the crew members. These individuals are -- this is a very serious event, and they are taking it very seriously and working with the investigation, and I just can't talk anything about the crew members or what they did.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it clear why the pilot in the plane, the aircraft,</s>BLOOMBERG: He, apparently, from what we can tell, lost power in both engines. Big jets don't glide very well. What would be a glide ratio, 1-1, or something like that? These things drop like a stone if you don't have any. He didn't have a lot of options. And keep in mind, if he'd tried to -- where he was, land on both sides very heavily, densely-populated buildings and people. The young lady behind you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. Mayor, were there any pets rescued yesterday from the...</s>BLOOMBERG: I have not heard anybody mention pets. We'll see if we can get that piece of information for you. Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I have a question for the captain of</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard people saying "thank God you're here," people crying, people saying "help" and pretty much everything else was quiet. I just -- was in focus.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In the middle of the water there, in the middle of the river, is pretty quiet or is it noisy as a truck? I mean</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quiet, unless there's, you know, helicopters overhead or other vessels passing by, it was pretty quiet at that moment.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, miss.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The two individuals who were in the water, how long were they in the water for?</s>BLOOMBERG: You had to guess the individuals of the water, the two that you pulled out?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, when we got there, she was extremely lethargic, she had signs of hypothermia, and she -- maybe wasn't too aware of her surroundings, so she was probably in the water at least five to ten minutes. It's just an approximation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did she have a life jacket on?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was holding on to life jackets. She was not donned. She actually had them through her arms. And when we got to her, we gave her more flotation.</s>BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I saw a report that there was an infant on the plane, as well as a young -- a young child. Did anyone encounter a parent with the income or the young child?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was...</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Identify yourself first.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Port captain, New York Waterway, Captain Vincent Ducanti. I was one of the vessels on scene at the time next to Captain Lombardi, and there was -- I encountered two children, one infant and one slightly older. I'm going to guess 18 months. And we brought them on board and warmed the infants, as well as the parents. Handed them over to one of the crew members on my boat. And we brought them into the ferry, along with the parents, and warmed them and safely brought them back to port and pier.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you describe the infant or</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, it was beautiful. We brought them on to the boat, they were nice and calm. They got up to the second deck of the ferry where it is warmest, and they started to cry which was the best sound that we could hear. And everybody had smiles.</s>BLOOMBERG: Let me just finish by...</s>BLOOMBERG: On the wing or...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were -- actually in a -- in a life raft.</s>BLOOMBERG: Let me just finish by saying, once again, thank you. Not just to those responders that are standing here, because they really represent a much larger group. The group that did respond, and the group that was while they responded still back in their places of preparation in case we had another emergency. One of the most impressive things about this city is that while we're responding, we also have enough personnel ready to respond if, God forbid, there were a second or a third emergency. You saw that on 9/11. And I think you saw it again yesterday. There was a massive amount of equipment brought over to the west side. But it was a small percentage of the equipment that we have. There was an enormous number of emergency service personnel. Police, fire -- Port Authority. But there was also a massive amount, an even bigger amount, sitting back in their stations, in their precincts, ready to respond if somebody else needed help. It's perhaps the most impressive thing about our city. So once again, thank you to all of those who responded. Let me just say to U.S. -- Airways, we typically like you to land at our airports.</s>BLOOMBERG: But thank God, if you had to land on the water, it turned out to be something that we can all look and say there but for the Grace of God, and it was because of the great pilot and crew, and it was because of an awful lot of people that responded. So it's a day to thank God and have a smile on our faces, and it just goes to show, if we work together, we can do anything. Thank you.</s>HARRIS: How about that. A day to thank God and have a smile on our faces. Pretty touching words there from Mayor Bloomberg, as he acknowledged the tremendous effort of all of the city's first responders yesterday, and doing a tremendous job of getting people to safety, and what seemed like the blink of an eye, when you think about it. New York Waterways, those ferryboats, responding so quickly, first on the scene. And then all of the other first responders, responding so quickly. The first ambulance on the scene in a minute and 12 seconds, just think about that. You heard from the head of the EMT that because the water was so cold in the Hudson, about 32 degrees, that's freezing, that severe hypothermia can set in anywhere from two to three minutes. You heard from the CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker, thanking the crew and giving us an update on the crew, the crew that right now is being interviewed by the NTSB to get to the bottom of what happened. All of the organizations that seemed to work so well yesterday. Again, the ferryboat captains, the Red Cross, the New York Police Department, New York Police Department divers, the New York Fire Department, the Office of Emergency and Management, and the Coast Guard working so well together that -- yesterday, to get people to safety as quickly as possible. And some of those people who were on that flight, 1549, actually made it on to Charlotte, North Carolina. You heard our T.J. Holmes talking about it just minutes ago. Here is what some of the people who survived that crash into the Hudson and made it on to Charlotte had to say to T.J. Holmes.</s>CARL BAZARIANE, PASSENGER: We were hitting the 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.</s>BRAD WENTZELL, PASSENGER: Probably the most amazing moment of my life was a lady and a child. And she was trying to climb over the seats because everybody was like -- was like wrecks. I mean you know, for the most part everybody was all behaved.</s>BAZARIANE: Everybody's cool.</s>WENTZELL: 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 onto the raft. But -- I'll never get over it.</s>JOE HART, PASSENGER: 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.</s>VINCE SPERA, PASSENGER: The fire and rescue up in New York, if you're going 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.</s>WENTZELL: This pilot and -- if this guy doesn't get the recognition he needs...</s>BAZARIANE: It's unbelievable.</s>WENTZELL: ... is the reason my daughter, my 2 1/2-year-old has a dad, and my wife still has a husband.</s>HARRIS: That pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who will get the key to the city of New York, along with the rest of his crew. And, of course, we can't wait for that moment. You know, we expect to learn more about the US Airways crash from NTSB officials. They're planning a news conference in New York this afternoon, 4:00 Eastern Time, and of course, we will bring it to you live right here on CNN. Let's get straight now to CNN's senior correspondent Allen Chernoff. He is in New York. And Allan, as you listen to the stories from the first responders in that news conference and the mayor just moments ago, it -- seems as though we can come to the one conclusion that just about everything went right when so many things could have gone wrong.</s>ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that man you were talking about, Captain Sullenberger, the "Daily News" this morning calling him the "Hero of the Hudson." I don't think anyone would disagree. Just a spectacular job, bringing that aircraft down safely, right on to the Hudson River. He took off from LaGuardia airport and the Borough of Queens. Within a minute, both engines went out. He believed it was a double bird strike. Birds being sucked into the engines, the engines went out. He made a left turn, right over the Hudson River behind me. 900 feet above the George Washington Bridge, and then brought the plane in safely right across from midtown Manhattan at 48th Street. Everyone, as we know, got out safely, just a spectacular story. Behind me, you see the plane. One of the wings sticking out from the water. The police commissioner told me that there is a wing that is slightly damaged, hard to tell from here whether that is the wing, in fact. The rest of the plane, all intact, except for the left engine, which an NTSB board member told me has actually fallen into the Hudson River somewhere. So divers will have to retrieve that. They certainly will. But the big effort today is get -- to get the plane on to a barge. They're trying to figure out exactly how to do it. There are some massive cranes right behind this building to our left over here. So they're hoping to get the plane out of the water, bring it to a secure location, and then investigate the aircraft fully. Now what do we take away from all of this, of course, which impacts all of us, the safety of flying. We know that these engines are tested for these theoretical bird strikes when they're manufactured. But do they need more testing? I talked about that with the NTSB board member. Let's have a listen.</s>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.</s>CHERNOFF: Should they be retested, do you think?</s>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.</s>CHERNOFF: And to learn more about what happened, the NTSB this morning is interviewing the crew of that plane, so they'll be able to share exactly their thoughts and their remembrances about every minute on that flight, and I'm sure they remember it all, Tony.</s>HARRIS: Hold up that newspaper once more, if you would, for us, Allen. Love to see that.</s>CHERNOFF: Here it is.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>CHERNOFF: This is the "Daily News" this morning, "Hero of the Hudson."</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>CHERNOFF: Captain Sullenberger, great job.</s>HARRIS: Well, we are going to talk to a man who knows Captain Sullenberger very well, has flown with Captain Sullenberger, next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. And we will get a little bit more insights into the mind of the man who is being called a hero, the "Hero of the Hudson." Allan, appreciate it. Thank you so much. A lot of other news we want to get to this morning. Parting words from President Bush. Defending the difficult decisions in his primetime farewell. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.