Since veteran pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River last month saving everyone on board, his story made it in all newspapers and television networks.

But Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger probably couldn’t have done it without the help from 35-year-old air traffic controller Patrick Harten, who was on the other end of the pilot’s calm radio exchanges. During a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Harten spoke publicly about the Miracle on the Hudson for the first time.
Describing his efforts of how he tried to land the jetliner that lost power in both jets after taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, Harten said he was “in shock” when the flight dropped off his radar after striking a flock of birds.

“I was sure the plane had gone down,” he said.

“People don't survive landings on the Hudson River,” 10-year veteran controller Patrick Harten said. “I thought it was his own death sentence,” he said of the moment when Sullenberger told him he was going to land the plane into the river.

Fearing he would soon become the last person the people on plane would have talked to, Harten said he was “hyper-focused” during the emergency as he tried to find a safe place to land the Airbus A320 and coordinate the emergency with other controllers.

“But when it was over, it hit me hard,” he said. “It felt like hours before I learned about the heroic water landing...Even after I learned the truth, I could not shake the image of tragedy in my mind. Every time I saw the survivors on the television, I imagined grieving widows.”

Harten recalled how his first impulse was to call his wife but “I knew if I tried to speak or even heard her voice, I would fall apart completely,” so he only sent her a brief text message saying, “Had a crash. Not OK. Can't talk now.”

The pilots and crew from the U.S. airways flight appeared before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to tell lawmakers what the airline industry can learn from this near disaster.

In his own remarks, Sullenberger pleaded for reform of the airline industry and condemned the bottom-line mentality of the airlines that he said was driving experienced pilots such as himself out of the business because of deep cuts in their pay and benefits.

“I am worried the airline pilot industry will not be able to attract the best and the brightest,” Sullenberger said.

Sullenberger added that without experienced pilots “we will see negative consequences to the flying public.” He said that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise “worth pennies on the dollar” from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.