dr. azari did and all of his genius, would have gone potentially, you know, to waste, and so that wasn't ok. >> reporter: but dr. kodirained 18 years for this moment, and not unlike jonathan, he too had a silver screen hero. >> reporter: sully, the movie about the hero pilot chesley sullenberger's miraculous plane landing on the hudson. azari says he watched it repe similarities between their two professions. >> we're expected to do the operations perfectly every single time. yet, the human body throws curveballs our way, and when that happens, you've got to have the composure to do what's right, to do what's best, and you have to make judgments at very critical times. >> and lives can often be on the line. >> and lives. the movie really resonated with me. >> in many ways sully's like a hero to you. >> i think he's a hero to many people. >> reporters: and like pilots in a simulator, azari and his team gathered multiple times to practice jonathan's operation in a surgical anatomy lab. >> the search for a donor is not easy. >> the hand is different. it's an external organ. so, you need to match for size. you need to ma