Hudson landing survivors mark 2nd anniversary

Saturday, Anastasia "Tess" Sosa of East Hampton will give thanks for being alive.

But for her, the second anniversary of the "Miracle on the Hudson" is also a time to struggle with the scars the emergency landing left behind.

She hasn't taken a vacation with her family since then - she won't fly and is hesitant even to drive long distances. She has an overwhelming fear of her children dying. Her daughter, then 4, and then-9-month-old son were with her and her husband, Martin, aboard the flight.

"We're blessed to be alive but we have a knowledge of what it is like to be before death," Sosa said Friday. "It's a memory that doesn't go away. It was traumatizing."

Two years after a flock of Canada geese forced Capt. Chesley Sullenberger to ditch the US Airways Airbus A320, survivors plan to gather on the west side of Manhattan to gaze at the site and raise a champagne toast to give thanks they're still alive.

But for some, such as Sosa, the day means not only celebrating, but trying to recover from an event that shattered their worlds.

Denise Lockie, a Staples executive who was aboard the flight, said she still travels regularly but has become much more cautious. "If the weather is a little sketchy, I will take a later flight," the North Carolina resident said. She also selects her aircraft carefully, she said, and won't take any small, propeller-driven regional planes.

Lockie is helping to organize the private commemoration. She said she expects a handful of survivors to gather along the Hudson on Saturday afternoon, with a larger group meeting for dinner in Manhattan.

In Charlotte, N.C., where the flight was destined from LaGuardia Airport, survivors plan to meet in a bar and toast their good luck, said Steve O'Brien, another of the passengers aboard that day.

All 150 passengers and five crew members survived after Sullenberger deftly landed the plane in the river off midtown on Jan. 15, 2009, six minutes after takeoff. The plane had lost thrust in both engines after striking the geese.

O'Brien said he doesn't feel a lot of emotional scars from the miraculous landing and is simply glad to be alive. After the crash, he said he took pleasure in the simplest, most mundane things in life, such as washing the dishes or playing with his children in the driveway.

"I don't really fret over things I can't control," said O'Brien, originally from Rockland County. He does admit to being a "more alert flier" now.

"I listen for the engines. I hear every squeak and creak on the planes." But he still flies. "I didn't want to let this conquer me," he said.