Bill Zuhoski thought he was lucky to get on Flight 1549 after missing an earlier plane – until he found himself standing neck deep in water in the middle of the Hudson River.
Bad weather had forced Zuhoski, a Long Islander, to miss an earlier flight, and he was asleep by the time 1549 took off. He was awakened by a “sudden jerk.”
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“It felt like turbulence. Nobody thought anything of it, until the plane started going down,” he said.
“Once we saw panic, everybody started to panic. In a minute everyone knew what was happening. Then you heard the pilot say, ‘Brace yourself for impact.’
“It was the most tremendous impact you can imagine.”
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His head slammed into the seat in front of him, he lost his glasses, “and the water came up immediately.”
Soon it was nearly up to his neck as passengers rushed to the back of the plane, making it dip more.
“I thought I was going to drown in the back of the plane,” he said.
Convinced he was going to have to swim for it, he started stripping off his clothes as passengers headed for the emergency exits.
He managed to get out and, wearing only his underwear, was picked up by a dinghy.
“I just lost it,” he said.