MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
More now on the emergency landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549. The flight had taken off from LaGuardia Airport and was headed to Charlotte. It's been reported that the plane hit a flock of birds. The pilot reported a double bird strike. The pilot landed the plane in the Hudson River, and within minutes, the rescue of all 150 passengers and 5 crew members was under way. Janis Krums was crossing the river on a commuter ferry when the plane came down...
NORRIS: Someone yelled, there's a plane in the Hudson. And, you know, we all looked up. And I took one picture before we pulled up to the plane. And then, you know, after that, we were just pulling people up from the wing and then from the raft up into the ferry. And we tried to get them coats and whatever else we had to keep them warm. I think we rescued around 30 to 40 - our ferry did - and we brought it back to the Manhattan side.
NORRIS: Did you actually see the plane hit the water?
NORRIS: I did not. We did not see that. We just pulled up, and it was three-quarters submerged. There were two rafts completely full, and then there were - the wings were - everyone was on the wings standing and waiting in around waist-deep in the water, freezing. We were the first ferry. After, I'd say, five or six minutes, there were five, six other ferries all surrounding the plane and getting people out of there, so it was a very quick rescue. Very impressed. And then one of the main things that the passengers who I had talked to, they said the pilot did a great job. He told them, you know, brace yourself for a crash landing. And after that, it was as smooth as a crash landing as they could ever ask for.
NORRIS: What kind of state were the passengers in when they boarded your ferry?
NORRIS: They were in a little bit of shock. They were freezing, but they were, you know, they were happy to be on the ferry, obviously. And they said we were there within five minutes, so they kind of didn't have time to react too much. Everything happened so quickly. And there was one injured woman - and actually, the only one that had an injury that we saw.
NORRIS: You say there was one injured woman?
NORRIS: She had a foot injury. And we - they got her on our ferry and relocated her into one of those - to sit down. And then there was a doctor who did a splint on her leg so she was (unintelligible) so that she was, you know, as good as she could be on the ferry.
NORRIS: Mr. Krums, do I have this right? You were trying to help at least one passenger stay warm. You gave up your overcoat and your gloves.
NORRIS: Yeah, my overcoat. I had another jacket. And then I had a couple of hats that I lost, but - yes, so they were all freezing. So I was giving my clothes away.
NORRIS: When you say a couple of hats you lost, you gave those away to people that were on the plane.
NORRIS: Yeah, they got lost in the commotion.
NORRIS: If you go online, if you turn on the television, you see all kinds of pictures of this partially submerged plane in the Hudson River. You were there snapping pictures, also.
NORRIS: Well, I took one picture, and I put it on Twitter. And that one, I guess, blew up, because I had - it just exploded with everyone. That's how people contacted me, actually, through Twitter. They messaged me and then - now, it's been pretty crazy with everyone, you know, a lot of interviews and whatnot. But yeah, that's one picture, I guess, that has circulated quite a bit.
NORRIS: Tell me about that picture. What do we see?
NORRIS: From what I remember, it was the nose of the plane with one raft and people standing on the wing, but I haven't even looked at it since, you know. I think that's what I took.
NORRIS: Well, Mr. Krums, thank you very much for speaking to us. All the best to you.
NORRIS: Thank you.
NORRIS: That's Janis Krums. He was crossing the Hudson River on the Midtown Ferry, and he helped in the rescue of passengers from US Airways Flight 1549. You can see that photo that Krums posted to Twitter at our Web site, npr.org.