February 9, 2009: That Was Worth Waiting For

It's been more than 3 weeks since the Miracle On The Hudson, that amazing event where US Air Flight 1549 landed safely in the Hudson River after complete engine failure moments after taking off from La Guardia Airport. 

Almost as unheard of as all 155 people on board making it out alive was the media blackout on interviews with the pilots and flight attendants.  It just doesn't happen that way anymore in this era 24/7 news cycle.  You would think we would've seen the crew interviewed so many times that we would be sick of them by now.

There was early hype that Matt Lauer would have the first interview soon after the incident.  I'm not sure what or how it happened but somehow his former co-anchor Katie Couric scooped him on that first.

So we all had to wait until last night to hear from Captain Chesley Sullenberger and the rest of the crew when they spoke on 60 Minutes.

Boy, was it worth the wait.  Katie Couric and the CBS News crew did an excellent job.  It was riveting to hear from Capt. Sullenberger, his family, the crew and the passengers.  They covered the first meeting between the crew and passengers, who were allowed to bring their families along.  Just to hear a little boy say to Captain Sullenberger, "Thank you for bringing my daddy home!"  was worth watching both segments.

At the end of the interview, Captain Sullenberger reflected on why this story has touched so many people around the world.  He replied, "I think they want good news.  I think they want to feel hopeful again."  We sure get that here at DarynKagan.com.

In case you missed the 60 Minute segments I've posted them for you here.