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On a clear January day in 2009, US Airways flight 1549 hit a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport. As the engines powered down and pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles decided an emergency landing wasn't an option, they expertly landed the plane atop N.Y.C.'s Hudson River, in an event later dubbed "Miracle on the Hudson." Everyone on board survived.
New Yorkers flocked to office windows to watch the plane float on the river as ferries came to passengers' rescue. "What's remarkable is that every choice we made turned out to be the one that led to the best outcome," Sullenberger told PEOPLE when recalling the day in a 2016 interview.
"As soon as we landed on the water, I knew this was going to be a life-changing event," Sullenberger told PEOPLE in 2016.
And while it was a miracle, several passengers on board did suffer injuries, and many passengers and crew members spoke of the emotional and mental trauma they suffered in the years following.
In a memorable image from the day, passengers exited the plane and stood on the wings and inflatable rafts, waiting for rescue.
Local ferries immediately came to the rescue, transporting passengers safely to land as the plane took in water.
"I think for everyone on that airplane this was about getting a second chance," Sullenberger told PEOPLE. He was right: in a 2010 PEOPLE catchup, one couple who was aboard the plane said they got married in the months following the crash; another couple adopted a child; and two strangers from the flight fell in love.
"This was one of those events that divides your life into before and after," Sullenberger told PEOPLE.
Boats from the fire department, police department and Coast Guard dotted the water as rescue efforts continued.
Two days after the incident, the plane was pulled from the Hudson River and examined by the National Transportation Safety Board. Most of its remains are now on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum (now named for Sullenberger) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sullenberger's story came to the big screen in the 2016 film Sully starring Tom Hanks. In his PEOPLE profile that same year, Sullenberger said his main mission was to lobby to make flying safer.
"It may be," he said, "that my greatest contributions still lie ahead."
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