( CNN ) -- Capt . Tadeusz Wrona still has trouble sleeping . The night after executing a spectacular belly landing in Poland , the veteran pilot tossed and turned until 4 a.m . The phone kept ringing , he told Polish media , and he kept reliving the chilling moments when his crew and passengers came close to a disaster . Now basking in his nation 's adoration and fielding countless interview requests , Wrona is resting even less , he said with a weary smile . Wrona , who has worked for LOT Polish Airlines for 20 years , was at the controls of a Boeing 767 en route from Newark , New Jersey , to Warsaw on Tuesday when he realized there was a problem with the landing gear . When the second attempt to open it failed , he knew that everyone on board -- 220 passengers and 11 crew -- was in danger . `` I 've maybe flown this plane 500 times , and the landing gear deployed every time , '' Wrona said during a news conference in Warsaw on Wednesday . `` I never had any trouble flying Boeing . '' Aware of comparisons to the 2009 `` Miracle on the Hudson , '' when Capt . Chesley `` Sully '' Sullenberger landed a plane in New York 's Hudson River after a flock of geese damaged both of the aircraft 's engines , Wrona pointed out that his situation was less dire . Both of his engines were working fine and there was time to prepare . After notifying Warsaw 's airport that there might be an emergency landing , the crew had time to perform checks and various functions , Wrona said . They circled the city to burn off excess fuel . While the crew reviewed the procedure in the cockpit , the flight attendants prepared the cabin , instructing passengers that they would have to evacuate as soon as the plane stopped on the ground . The autopilot helped the crew guide the plane until about two minutes before landing , Wrona said . That 's when he took manual control . `` We rested the plane on three points : two engines plus the rear portion of the fuselage , '' Wrona said . `` We tried to do it delicately , and we were successful . '' There was less noise during the belly landing than a normal touch down , which shocked Wrona . It was just quiet , he recalled . Wrona , who has been dubbed the Polish version of Sullenberger , was praised by the original `` miracle '' pilot . `` The captain and the crew obviously did a great job , '' Sullenberger told CNN . `` It definitely requires skill to do this well , and from all reports and from watching the video , it looked like it was done very , very well . '' But for Wrona , there were still tense moments ahead . `` When the plane stopped on the runway , I was n't sure whether everyone was safe , because smoke appeared , '' he recalled . ( Wind had blown the smoke caused by the friction of the landing toward the cockpit . ) `` I finally felt full relief only when the purser reported that the cabin was empty . '' Everyone got out safe and unhurt . Like Sullenberger , Wrona is now grappling with sudden fame and the gratitude of hundreds of families . He 's a Facebook star , with several fan pages established in his honor . One page has more than 33,000 followers leaving messages of praise and adulation . But Wrona insists it 's too much to call him a national hero . `` I am convinced that all of us who work for LOT would do the exact same thing , and it would end in the same way , because we train for such situations on simulators , '' he said . Wrona is fully prepared to return to his duties as pilot , he said . In fact , his schedule -- prepared before the incident -- has him flying to Hanoi , Vietnam , on Saturday . He 's not sure whether the commission investigating the emergency landing will let him go . Wrona 's wife and two adult children beamed when they were interviewed by Polish media on Thursday . Marzena Wrona found out about her husband 's troubled flight on television while the plane was still circling Warsaw and raced to the airport to watch the emergency landing , she told the program DzieÅ „ Dobry TVN . But she had to turn back when authorities closed off many streets leading to the airport as a safety precaution . When she got back home , the plane had already landed . `` I knew the landing would be successful because I could n't imagine otherwise , '' Wrona 's wife said .
Pilot who made a textbook belly landing in Poland is being hailed as national hero . Tadeusz Wrona has worked for the Polish Airlines for 20 years . ` ` I finally felt full relief only when the purser reported that the plane was empty , '' he says . Wrona says he 's flown the Boeing 767 about 500 times and never had any trouble .