‘Miracle on the Hudson’ survivor meets with rescuers on 10th anniversary

One of the survivors of the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing met with some of his rescuers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the landing.

News 12 Staff

Jan 16, 2019, 1:40 AM

Updated 2,153 days ago

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One of the survivors of the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing met with some of his rescuers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the landing.
Dave Sanderson became emotional when he saw the first responders. He came back to the Hudson River to thank them 10 years to the hour when US Airways Flight 1549 was forced to land in the icy river.
“I was in seat 15A. I was four rows behind the left wing,” says Sanderson.
Sanderson was one of 155 people on board the flight that was force to lend due to a bird strike. The birds caused both of the jet’s engines to fail. All of the passengers survived the landing, in large part due to the actions of Captain “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew.
Sanderson was cared for by nurse Zoraida Bautista after the crash.
“He was so scared. And wet. Really wet and cold,” she says.
Sanderson, then a technology sales manager was headed home to Charlotte, North Carolina. He says that he made a last-minute switch to Flight 1549 to get back home sooner.
He says that the incident turned out to be a blessing, because it allowed him to get his priorities straight.
“You know, I’ve got two kids that are getting out of high school and I've got two more. I've missed a lot of their things, this thing went so fast,” Sanderson says. “I was supposed to be on that plane for a reason. And maybe the reason was to get myself in alignment."
He says that he eventually left his job, became an author and speaker and stays at home a lot more.