Michael Duffy was just two weeks into his new role as captain of a Circle Line sightseeing cruise when he issued the order to rescue air passengers following the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Ta.
“They were lucky,” Duffy told the Post this week, 16 years after the infamous Jan. 15, 2009, landfall. “Because a few days ago there was ice on the river and a few days later there was ice on the river.
“Timing is everything,” added Duffy, who has now been with the Big Apple for 50 years. “It just happened to be sunny. Otherwise it would have been a problem for the plane…the bottom would probably have split.”
Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport in Queens and en route to Charlotte, North Carolina, when it collided with a flock of Canada geese, causing engine failure and forcing pilot Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger to take control of the plane over the Hudson River. It was done.
FDNY officials told the new captain that the plane had crash-landed in the Hudson River while dozens of tourists were already boarding the ship for a scheduled trip, Duffy recalled.
“My first official order was to remove 51 paying customers from the store. [Circle Line] Boat,” he said.
New York Waterways and Circle Line were the first to respond to the accident, and a tourist boat picked up passengers just minutes after the planes collided around 3:31 p.m. The 155 passengers were evacuated from the plane using the wings and emergency slide.
FDNY and NYPD first responders were loaded onto Duffy's boat and brought closer to the plane. The boat also sent three divers to board the plane to see if there were any additional passengers, but none were found.
The main deck of the boat was used as a medical triage outpost with stretchers and remained with the aircraft until the Coast Guard arrived.
“The ironic thing is, even though I should be so excited, I can hear a pin drop,” Duffy said. “No one pushed or shoved each other. Everyone wanted to help.”
Fourteen New York Waterway ferries carried a total of 143 passengers, and the U.S. Coast Guard and FDNY rescued the remaining passengers and crew.
Mr Duffy believes his previous experience as a captain has prepared him for emergencies, from river sightseeing helicopter crashes to fires and drowning rescues. So did the 53 years he spent as a firefighter in his hometown of Palisades Park, New Jersey.
Duffy's father was a captain on the Circle Line, so New York Harbor is also in his family. Duffy worked as a ticket seller before earning his captain's license at age 22.
“We always [Circle Line] Take a boat trip to where you’re involved in something,” Duffy said. “It was just a normal day. People jumped off the bridge next to us, people tried to swim across the river, and we rescued them. [A rescue] That kind of thing is quite normal. ”
Duffy, a Garden State firefighter, reports, “I do the same thing when I'm stuck in traffic.”
“When an accident happens, I jump out of the car and go help,” he said. “It’s just my essence.”
Despite all the changes around the Big Apple in the 16 years since the Miracle on the Hudson, Duffy insists the New York Harbor community has remained close-knit and continued to help each other in times of need.
“We are competitors, but to a certain extent we are not competitors professionally,” Duffy added. “We all do our thing and help each other. That's why we're here.”
The longtime port captain said the 2009 rescue would not have been possible without the “small community” who work at the port every day.
“This is just one of those things where humans actually are humans and people come together. [the world] “It’s not as negative as you might see or hear,” he said.
“There's a lot of good that goes unnoticed, and it happens every day.”
