[It] was the worst thing happening at the worst time in the worst environment. |
As we were coming in, we decided to stay straight and level. This would give us the most time to try and restart and also it made more sense rather than try to get to land — that could jeopardize somebody in a building, somebody in a car. We don't need to bring others into it. |
It was great. The helicopter came over - and then I was inside. The worst was over. They were just phenomenal. |
Mark said he was going to swim to it. I didn't say, 'no,' I didn't say, 'I'm with you.' I can't swim too well. At that point, I did the back float, he swam, and the next thing you know the helicopters came and got us. |
Mark stayed calm, [he] reached in his pocket, takes out his cell phone and dialed 911. It was just beautiful. ... A couple of minutes later, the plane went under. |
Mark stayed calm, reached in his pocket, takes out his cell phone and dialed 911. It was just beautiful. And then from there, a couple of minutes later, the plane went under. |
The propeller sputtered and that was it ... we recognized it was an emergency. |
The propeller sputtered, undulated and sputtered again. |
We climbed to the top of the tail. That didn't help too much. It was underwater. |
We just went for it, we knew that we had to do it, we maintained our composure. |
We were playing for keeps. We didn't say that we were. We didn't say, 'What are we going to do now?' We just went for it. |
You train for these events routinely, but when it happens you don't know how you're going to react. Mark and me, as a team, we did well. |