Hero Pilot Recounts 'Sickening' Moment Engines Died

The moments after  the engines of US Airways Flight 1549 died were the worst of his life, hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger tells Katie Couric in a 60 Minutes interview to air Monday. Disbelief was followed by a "sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling," as an eerie silence and a disturbing smell filled the plane, he recalled.

Sullenberger and the rest of the crew detail their reactions as passengers were told to brace for impact and the plane was safely ditched in the Hudson River. "'Thank you' seems totally inadequate" for the rescuers who swiftly arrived, said Sullenberger. "I have a debt of gratitude that I fear I may never be able to repay." (More Chesley Sullenberger stories.)