. >> captain chesley "sully" sullenberger takes control of the airplane, with two simple words. my aircraft. remarkably, there is footage of the plane's last moments being airborne. >> sully took over control of the airplane and called for the dual engine failure check list that we do, and i started to do that. >> trying to get the engines restarted? >> yes. >> and was there any luck at all? >> no. >> the airbus dual engine failure checklist, cruising at 30,000 feet would have given the pilots ample time to figure things out. hitting a flock of can at that geese at just 3,000 feet, that's another story. what at this point is going through your mind? at this point i'm thinking this cannot be happening. >> if the engines were no longer producing thrust, why wouldn't the plane have fallen from the sky out of control? the answer? simple aerodynamics. a plane with engine failure to keep the plane flying, the pilot pitches it nose down to maintain lift over the wings, essentially trading altitude for air speed. the plane then gains momentum, much like a roller coaster going downhill.

i talked with former philadelphia eagles star al chesley and he now advocates for children's rights. >>> now tonight's debate is being called other the have the elimination round. tonight is the ninth debate and it airs on cnbc. the topic, the economy. herman cain's rivals could go on the attack over his sexual harassment allegations. nbc news political director chuck todd joins me now. we've heard a lot about the other candidates not wanting to go after herman cain too hard in that they might need his supporters later on down the road. chris cillizza was on with andrea mitchell and he believes someone might take that opening. >> i think it is a danger to do it if you're one of the guys that is not named mitt romney. because right now, cain's supporters seem to be as defiant as cain himself is on this. if it looks like you're siding with the political elite or if you're a cain supporter and you believe it this combination of the media and political elite out to get him and you pounce on that as a fellow republican, it is one of those things that you could get punished by these suppor

they want to do and how they will do it instead of having idle political debate that is what i think chesley is referring to. we ought to give the tiniest the market? even though we have greater capacity and domestic demand am much better venture-capital than they do? and the price drops precipitously? and if you know, what should we do about it? the government and the private sector the same thing with the wind in governor cuomo just signed a great bill kidney york called on bill accounting. the bottom line, if you retrofit your home or your office building, you can get it financed in that way then pay off all the from your utility savings because they add it to your utility bill. it is the just say yes system creating 10 or 12,000 jobs in new york to put billions of dollars into this economy within a matter of months as soon as it is fully implemented. those of the kinds of things we ought to do more of. >> host: having conversations like these and writing books and advocating is this a niche that civil society should fill to discuss the role of the public sector and in many ways you has a

. >> reporter: cbs news, aviation expert, pilot chesley sullenberger believes everybody needs to work together. >> the airlines, the air traffic controllers, the airports, all have to have action plans in place that they can quickly turn to, in adverse weather events to get stairs to buses and airplanes that cannot make it to gates. >> reporter: in the 16 months prior to when the 3-hour delay rule was adopted by the faa, there were more than 900 incidents reported. but in that same length of time, after the rule was added, the numbers dropped to 54. >>> one of five men suspected in the gang rape of a baltimore girl is behind bars. police were able to track down lucky christopher crosby, jr., using his gps monitoring ankelt bracelet. the girl was -- ankle bracelet. the girl was walking when she was attacked. wjz has more on this and the gps monitoring system coming up at 5:00. >>> a sneeze causes a deadly crash in salisbury. maryland state police say a passenger in a van died after the driver suffered a sneezing attack, lost control and hit a tree. the driver suffered six broken ribs a

they want to do and how they will do it instead of having idle political debate that is what i think chesley is referring to. we ought to give the tiniest the market? even though we have greater capacity and domestic demand am much better venture-capital than they do? and the price drops precipitously? and if you know, what should we do about it? the government and the private sector the same thing with the wind in governor cuomo just signed a great bill kidney york called on bill accounting. the bottom line, if you retrofit your home or your office building, you can get it financed in that way then pay off all the from your utility savings because they add it to your utility bill. it is the just say yes system creating 10 or 12,000 jobs in new york to put billions of dollars into this economy within a matter of months as soon as it is fully implemented. those of the kinds of things we ought to do more of. >> host: having conversations like these and writing books and advocating is this a niche that civil society should fill to discuss the role of the public sector and in many ways you has a

we're pleased to welcome captain chesley sully sullenberger miracle on the hudson landing in new york this morning, as we can see from the picture of the bridge behind you. let's talk about this crash landing because the pilot did an amazing job. so, when you first saw the video of this thing landing, what went through your mind? >> well, first, i wouldn't call it a crash landing. that was an emergency landing. yeah, the captain and the crew, obviously, had done a great job and you know the leadership and organizational and planning skills for this are almost as important as the flying skills. they used effectively the time that they had, probably an hour and a half to prepare the cabin for the emergency landing and the evacuation. prepare the forces on the ground for the emergency landing, the fire and rescue forces and also run through a series of checklists in the cockpit. so, planning and implementing the plan and the execution of this landing is very important. >> so, let's talk about that plan. while the plane was still up in the air, the pilot got on the microphone there and he

we landed, he and hillary it went to chesley's stance. i came back to washington that night. washington, that night, friday, been the way it is now, i went to a dinner in georgetown, journalists, very cynical people, and a guy who worked on the white house staff of the bush administration, my wife was there. i walked in and i said to my wife and the people there, i am absolutely certain i have just spent the day with the next president of the united states. this is when bush was at 60% of the polls. my wife was nice to me, and everybody else out at the dinner said, you were out of your mind. but it was so absolutely clear. and this relates to something vernon touched on, this was somebody who had shown by virtue of where he had lived his life that he was committed to people and he had come home. i was a southerner, too, went to law school up north, who did not go home to work on those things. i became a media lawyer in new york and became a journalist. by so respected what he had given up to come back to do what he felt was the most appalling thing to do. -- i so respected wh