Ex-Champ Car PR man counts his lucky stars

David Higdon

Ex Champ Car PR honcho David Higdon wasn't on Flight 1549, but when he saw that it had crashed in the Hudson, his life flashed before his eyes. That's because he was originally booked to be in seat 4C on that flight.

The 47-year-old father of two had checked in at the US Airways counter at LaGuardia Thursday afternoon and got his boarding pass for the doomed flight.

Anxious to get home and prepare for a job interview, Higdon asked to fly standby for an earlier flight. It worked.

He was sitting at a restaurant at the airport in Charlotte, N.C., on a layover to Jacksonville, his final destination, when he saw news of the plane crash on TV.

"All I see up there is this plane sitting in the middle of the water. And then it said US Airways Flight 1549."

"My life flashed in front of me right there," he said. "I went over to my briefcase and pulled out my [original] boarding pass and sure enough – it was Flight 1549. I could hardly stand up."

Higdon, who was laid off from his sports marketing job six months ago, said others in the restaurant were stunned.

"These two guys said to me, 'Dude, man, go buy a lottery ticket,'" he said. "They said 'You're the luckiest guy I know. Let me rub your head.'"

Higdon said he immediately called his wife to let her know he was okay. Now he wants to find whoever took his seat that fateful day to make sure they're okay.

"I want to know if there's anything I can do for him or her," he said. NY Daily News