He says the pilot of US Air 1549 made a number of split second decisions when he lost both engines at 3200 feet.
"At about 3200 feet, he loses his power, instinctively he'll put the nose down to maintain glide speed and he's going to turn, look for a suitable place to land," King said.
At this point the pilot is multitasking.
He's trying to restart his engines and calculating the amount of glide time he has left to keep the plane airborne.
"There's a lot of mental calculations and feeling of the airplane going on in the cockpit to determine what this airplane's doing and where am I going to be able to do put with the energy, the wind conditions, and the location that I have," King said.
And while he's calculating, he's also looking out the window to gauge his options between New York and New Jersey.
The pilot is now committed to a water landing and instinct takes over.
He has to dip the nose to keep his air speed up.
Then it's a matter of fighting cross winds to keep the plane at just the right altitude.
The pilot and copilot had only seconds to make their calculations and decisions.
Any slight miscalculation could have led to disaster.
