Romance blossomed between two passengers of US Airways Flight 1549, the "Miracle on the Hudson." INSIDE EDITION has the story of Laura Zych and Ben Bostic, who met at a reunion of the Flight 1549 passengers and crew.
"There was something unique about her, she stood out," says Ben Bostic, remembering when he noticed Laura Zych at the airport when they were waiting to catch the same flight. Bostic never got up the nerve to say hello, but he would get his chance thanks to the "Miracle on the Hudson."
Onboard the plane, they were just three rows apart as the unthinkable started to unfold.
"I thought for a couple seconds, 'Is this really happening, is this the last seconds of my life?' " Bostic remembers.
What happened next became the most celebrated story in commercial aviation history. US Airways flight 1549 had collided with a flock of geese shortly after takeoff and suffered engine failure.
The heroic captain, Chesley B. Sullenberger, managed to land safely on the Hudson River. The passengers and crew awaiting rescue on the wings became the iconic images of the "Miracle on the Hudson."
The survivors, many of whom were from Charlotte, North Carolina, have become a tight-knit group and call their regular reunions "celebrations of life." At one party last summer, Ben finally got his chance with Laura Zych.
"I still knew that she was the girl that I saw that day. I was glad to finally meet her," he says.
They ended up talking until 6 a.m.
"We just had that strong connection at first and then the more we got to know about each other, it just became more and more apparent that there was something there," says Zych.
Romance has blossomed quickly for the 31-year-old product manager and 39-year-old software developer. After all, surviving the crash taught them an important lesson: live for today.
"We really do enjoy living in the moment and having fun," Zych tells INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent.
The couple showed INSIDE EDITION some of their belongings that had been recovered from the icy Hudson.
"How do you figure out if this is for real or if this is something that is just based upon this shared experience?" asks Les Trent.
"Because it's larger than that," Bostic explains.
There are no wedding bells yet, but Bostic and Zych would be ready for their first dance as man and wife because every night that they're together, they dance to their favorite music. One song on heavy rotation is Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me."
For more on Ben Bostic and Laura Zych's story or the stories of other passengers on Flight 1549, read the new book Miracle on the Hudson.
