The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper: Season 2024, Episode 1

2024 - 1: Miracle on the Hudson: Fifteen Years Later

Ahead of Flight 1549's anniversary, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper exclusively sits down with its captain, Ambassador C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, and passengers to reflect on how this extraordinary event has changed their lives forever.

On January 15, 2009, Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles miraculously landed US Airways Flight 1549 safely in the Hudson River after both engines were disabled by a bird strike, saving all 155 people on board. The heroic act, arguably the most famous emergency landing in modern aviation history, captivated the nation and was later dramatized in the 2016 Warner Brothers Pictures film Sully.

In a series of intimate interviews with Sullenberger and his wife, Lorrie, and passengers Vallie Collins, Ric Elias, Barry Leonard, Clay Presley, Pam Seagle, and Eric Stevenson, The Whole Story reveals the harrowing details of that fateful day and the psychological effects that continue fifteen years later, leading some to alter the course of their lives drastically.