CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's hard to believe, but next week will mark 10 years since the Miracle on the Hudson.
That's when the plane headed from New York to Charlotte crashed into the Hudson river.
Many of the passengers and the heroic captain, Captain Sully, will be in Charlotte to mark the anniversary.
WCNC has talked to a number of passengers and they all say the same thing -- being on this plane and living to tell the story felt like a second chance at life. They've all taken that chance very seriously.
"It was a crash to us," one survivor said. "I have a permanent dent in my skull bone from banging my head on the seat in front of me."
Despite being nearly a decade since the event, the crash is still vivid to those who were there.
"Every little bit of it," Kristy, a passenger, said. "It''s just very crystal clear in my mind."
What isn't always clear is that people in the water were in severe danger of drowning. Passengers told WCNC there were people in the water no longer able to move their arms and legs because of hypothermia -- some spent days in the hospital to recover.
Some people in the back of the plane had to stand on seats in order to keep their heads above water before they could get out of the plane, passengers told NBC Charlotte.
Kristy ended up on the fuel soaked, slippery edge of the wing. She can spot herself in the pictures and videos from that day.
According to another passenger, a grandmother of seven, by the time a grandmother of seven made her way from the back of the plane, there was no room left on the wings and the rafts were full, too.
The flight attendant put a hand on her back and told her she had to jump, she had to get off the plane. 'Close your eyes and jump.'
Many passengers from that flight call Captain Sully a hero, saying they know just how lucky they are.
"I use a quote sometimes," one passenger said. "'You ask me why I came here. I came to live out loud.' And I love that quote because it says what a lot of us feel now – we want to make sure we live our lives."
On Tuesday the January 15, the passengers and crew will be in Charlotte, where they will do a special toast in the exact moment that the plane landed in the Hudson -- a toast to life and another chance.