Miracle on the Hudson's Capt. Sully Says He's 'Devastated' by Potomac Plane Crash: 'A Catastrophic Event'

Few people can relate to the pilots involved in the American Airlines plane crash over the Potomac River on Wednesday, Jan. 29, as well as Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III.

In 2009, Sullenberger piloted a passenger plane that was forced to safely land on the Hudson River, miraculously saving the lives of the 150 people on board.

However, Wednesday’s crash proved much less fortunate after a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while the jet was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, as the FAA previously told PEOPLE. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the jet at the time, plus three military personnel on the helicopter.

Though he didn't specifically touch on what could have caused Wednesday's collision, Sullenberger, 74, told Robin Roberts on Good Morning America Thursday, Jan. 30, "We have to realize how many things have to go right every day for us to have this now ultra-safe transportation industry,"

"Any lapse could potentially be fatal, even though we have a lot of safety layers in there," he added. "If all the dominos line up in the wrong way, we can have, on rare occasions, a catastrophic event — and it’s important to know that given enough time, given enough flights, given enough flight hours, eventually whatever can happen will happen, unless we work very hard to prevent every incident from turning into an accident."

Related: 'Several Members' of U.S. Figure Skating Team Onboard American Airlines Plane That Crashed Over Washington, D.C.

Speaking about the unique challenges of Reagan airport, he continued, "It’s kind of a special safety airport that pilots need to have unique training on to fly in and out of if you’re an airline pilot. ... [It] requires a bit more study to operate there safely because of the short runways, because of the proximity of other airports and because of the traffic level; it’s a high-traffic, high-density area. And lots of different kinds of traffic that’s mixed together."

However, despite all the factors that go into safe air travel, Sullenberger noted that the likelihood of a crash like this was "infinitesimal."

"We have a lot of people who work very hard every day and are very dedicated to keep us safe," the retired pilot reassured the public. "We have thousands of people doing that every day — we just don’t know who they all are."

Sullenberger also told The New York Times that he is “just devastated” by the news of the crash and added, “We have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve.”

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Related: American Airlines Plane Crashes into Potomac River After Black Hawk Helicopter Collision: Live Updates

Survivors of the Miracle on the Hudson crash marked 15 years since the harrowing incident last January.

"My definition of success for that flight was complete, absolute: had even one person perished, I would've considered it a tragic failure,” Sullenberger told PEOPLE at the time. “I couldn't have celebrated any of this."

The stunning landing thrust Sullenberger into the spotlight with honors that included an invite to President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, a dramatized retelling of the crash in 2016's Sully starring Tom Hanks and the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, which now houses the Airbus A320.

The total devastation from Wednesday’s crash remains unknown at this time. It is expected to be the deadliest commercial plane crash in the U.S. in at least 15 years.

So far, at least 28 bodies have been recovered from the river, including 27 from the American Airlines plane and one from the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter. No survivors have been confirmed.

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