Meredith Veiera: All right, talk about eerie. I am still thinking about that JetBlue flight, aren't you, where all those passengers were on board? They were able to see what trouble their plane was in because of the television screens at every seat. Fortunately it turned out okay. Well, one of the people on board Flight 292 is in our audience. You may know him as David Vickers on ABC's One Life To Live. Please say hi to Tuc Watkins.

{Audience applause}

Tuc Watkins: Hi.

Joy Behar: Look at you, how calm.

Meredith Veiera: Yeah, you seem so calm!

Joy Behar: We were nervous.

Meredith Veiera: Not that we're trying to pry or anything, but what was that like? Of course we're prying.

Tuc Watkins: Well, once we saw ourselves on our individual television screens, everyone got a little more concerned because in this day and age, when you see a plane live on TV and you know it's in trouble, you assume the worst.

Meredith Veiera: Absolutely.

Tuc Watkins: My biggest concern was for my family and my friends, the people who love me, watching this. I was concerned that they would be beside themselves, 'cause if I were in their position, that's how I would feel. But the mood on the plane was relatively calm. There...

Joy Behar: When you asked them later, were they watching it, were they?

Tuc Watkins: Luckily my parents and my sister, the ones I was really concerned about, were otherwise occupied. As a matter of fact, I couldn't get ahold of my parents for two hours and I thought, Why can't I get ahold of my parents? {audience laughing} Don't they care?

Joy Behar: You were by yourself on the plane? You were alone traveling?

Tuc Watkins: Yeah, yeah, I was traveling alone.

Meredith Veiera: But, so, somebody...I mean, 'cause those TV screens, you can watch all different networks on them and stuff, so somebody happened to be on the network where that popped up?

Tuc Watkins: Right. I happened to be watching Reno 911 at the time, and it spread like wildfire, "Hey, we're on television..."

Elizabeth Hasselback: So people were switching?

Meredith Veiera: Yeah, 'cause you could see all of it.

Tuc Watkins: So everyone switched to that...

Meredith Veiera: ...station.

Tuc Watkins: ...particular channel and we saw ourselves on TV.

Meredith Veiera: Right, right.

Star Jones: Did you see the landing also, Tuc?

Tuc Watkins: No, they cut it off prior to that.

Elizabeth Hasselback: Oh, they did?

Tuc Watkins: But once we saw ourselves on TV, about half the plane stood up and had to go to the bathroom. {audience and hosts laughing}

Elizabeth Hasselback: Oh my gosh!

Tuc Watkins: Myself, included!

Joy Behar: Well, because of the anxiety that results.

Tuc Watkins: I think there's a lot of anxiety...

Joy Behar: Oh my god!

Tuc Watkins: ...and I don't think we were...for myself, at least...didn't realize how I felt until, really, the next day. Because we all felt fairly calm while it was going on. I can't speak for everyone, but the mood on the plane...

Meredith Veiera: I would have been in shock!

Star Jones: I would have been scared when they said, "No, we're going to turn off the television."

Joy Behar: Yeah! A lot of people said that.

Tuc Watkins: Well, they didn't tell us. And it seems to me that they were damned if they turned off the TV, and damned if they didn't turn off the TV.

Meredith Veiera: Well, how did you feel? Did you want to watch, or were...?

Tuc Watkins: Uh...you couldn't help but watch.

Meredith Veiera: Yeah.

Tuc Watkins: Uh...I think when...

Joy Behar: It's like must-see TV!

Tuc Watkins: ...yeah, 'cause you're living it and you can't...'cause you want information. And we were getting a lot of information from the pilot, who was very up front...

Meredith Veiera: Oh, he was?

Elizabeth Hasselback: What was he saying?

Tuc Watkins: He told us exactly what was going on. And...uh...

Elizabeth Hasselback: Did he sound calm, or...?

Tuc Watkins: He not only sounded calm, but it didn't sound like he was trying to sound calm. So he sounded...

Meredith Veiera: He just, sort of, had things under control.

Tuc Watkins: Very matter of fact. And the crew was great.

Star Jones: Well, bless them! 'Cause they're...

Meredith Veiera: Yeah!

{Hosts murmuring, lots of crosstalk}

Tuc Watkins: And everyone after we landed, the entire JetBlue team, uh, handled it with such professionalism that...

Joy Behar: But!

Meredith Veiera: See, I don't see how you were able to get back on a plane, that to me...

Joy Behar: But I wanna go back for a second.

Tuc Watkins: I got on a plane three hours later to fly back to New York.

Star Jones: On JetBlue?

Tuc Watkins: On JetBlue. Absolutely. Yeah.

Joy Behar: Well...(unintelligible)...lightning doesn't strike twice. But, listen, I wanna ask you something. This is where I thought it might have been hairy. When the stewardess, or the flight attendent or whatever they were, said, "Brace yourselves," did you think you were going to crash?

Tuc Watkins: Never.

Joy Behar: You never thought that?

Meredith Veiera: Never? You didn't?

Tuc Watkins: No.

Joy Behar: What were you thinking?

Tuc Watkins: We were told what was going to happen, and...uh...the pilot came on and said, "One minute prior to landing, I'm going to tell you to brace." And, at the point when that happened, he came on, he said, "Brace! Brace! Brace!" So everyone assumed the position. And the woman that's sitting next to me was visibly shaken. And I said, "What's your name?" And she said, "Melissa." I said, "My name's Tuc." And I said, "Here's what I think's going to happen." I...I didn't mention that I was on One Life To Live, that seemed inappropriate at the time... {Audience and hosts laugh}...at that particular time.

Meredith Veiera: Excuse me, do you know me? (Turning head) Maybe if you see this side of my face.

Joy Behar: You didn't drag out an 8x10? Congratulations!

Meredith Veiera: Maybe you want an autograph?

Star Jones: Especially one called One Life To Live. {everyone laughs}

Joy Behar: So what happened?

Tuc Watkins: So, the back wheels came down, and...uh...we started to smell the smoke. And I said, "I think that's the brakes going into overdrive," and I said, "Any second, the nose is going to come down and that front wheel might break off like a matchstick and the nose may hit the tarmac..."

Elizabeth Hasselback: How do you know this?

Tuc Watkins: I...I'm...I'm just talking myself and her through it, just to sort of ground ourselves.

Meredith Veiera: It probably sounded good.

Elizabeth Hasselback: It sounded convincing to me. I believed you.

Tuc Watkins: Yeah. I was buying it, and I was sort of making it up. But...and I said, "Any second that nose is going to come down now, and then all of a sudden, we just stopped. And it was just such a smooth landing that I think the burning rubber that we smelled was the wheel in front. In fact, it was disintegrating.

Joy Behar: Was there a lot of screaming, a lot of praying?

Tuc Watkins: No, I didn't see any of that.

Joy Behar: So they were all...everybody thought it was going to be okay, I guess?

Tuc Watkins: I saw two or three people that needed to be...reassured. But other than that...

Joy Behar: Did anybody pull out a drink? Like a bottle a vodka from their...?

Tuc Watkins: No, I...

Joy Behar: Nothing?

Elizabeth Hasselback: It was a quiet!

Tuc Watkins: There was no booze.

Meredith Veiera: Well, we are so glad that you are home safe and sound. We're just so glad.

Tuc Watkins: Thanks. {audience applauds}

Star Jones: And that was very nice what you did for Melissa.

Meredith Veiera: Yeah, very very nice.

Star Jones: Sitting next to that lady, that was very nice.

Tuc Watkins: I did it for myself, as much as for her.

Meredith Veiera: Yeah, absolutely.

Joy Behar: I have to fly to Atlanta soon, would you come with me?

Tuc Watkins: Absolutely!

Meredith Veiera: We'll be right back...