Hudson pilot had 'job to do' left prayers to fliers

After smelling "burned bird" in his engines, the pilot who splash-landed a jet with 155 people on board safely in New York's Hudson River last month said on Sunday he left the praying to "somebody in back".

In his first major broadcast interview about the January 15 accident, pilot Chesley Sullenberger told CBS he focused on landing and did not think about the passengers.

"Not specifically ... I mean, knew I had to solve this problem. I knew I had to find a way out of this box I found myself in," he said. "I had a job to do."