“…I made one too many passes over there trying to pinpoint the location of one of the survivors, and I felt this thump. The next thing I know, I’ve got flames trailing out from underneath the airplane on both sides… Ed Sully says, ‘Get out.’ And I said, ‘Roger.’
At that time I pulled the handle… when I pulled the handle and it didn’t work, he basically saved my bacon, because had everything worked at that time, I was right over a flat open rice paddy area. I’d been just like shooting ducks in a pond…
I went for the seat release handle, and that allows you to get out of the airplane with your parachute… Still had good power on the airplane. Big old fan is still pushing air across the fuselage… On the second attempt, managed to pull and push with legs, stand up in the seat, rotate to the right, and dive over the right trailing edge of the airplane, and then managed to remember to pull the D ring.”