Commercial airplane crashes in Hudson River - NY Daily News US Airways airplane crashes in Hudson River - Hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger III saves all aboard Commercial airplane crashes in Hudson River All passengers were rescued from a USAirways plane that crash landed Thursday in the Hudson River. (Costanza for News) DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, January 16, 2009, 10:18 AM A former fighter pilot was hailed as the Hero of the Hudson Thursday night after he landed a stricken US Airways jet in the river - and made sure everybody got out alive. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger was still drying off when Mayor Bloomberg sang his praises. "He did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river" and evacuating the passengers, Bloomberg said of the veteran pilot who lives near San Francisco. With water seeping into the plane - and all his 150 passengers and four other crew members safe - Sullenberger walked up and down the center aisle twice to make sure nobody was left before he, too, fled the jet, the mayor said. "He was the last one off the plane," Bloomberg said. Gov.

Paterson also praised the ferry boat operators and rescue workers who rushed over as the plane bobbed in the 40-degree water and plucked the frigid, frightened passengers off the wings. "We've had a miracle on the Hudson," Paterson said. The Federal Aviation Administration said everybody was accounted for - a group that included at least one baby and a passenger who lost a relative in the Sept. 11 attacks. Passengers described the scene moments after the plane hit the water as "organized chaos." Yet, there was little panic as they helped each other reach the exit - allowing women and children to go first. "It's just incredible right now that everybody's still alive," passenger Alberto Panero said. The New York Daily New published this on January 16, 2009. (New York Daily News) "It was intense, it was intense," added another passenger, Jeff Kolodjay. "You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing." It was just 20 degrees at the time and shivering survivors were rushed to Roosevelt Hospital and other medical centers to be treated for exposure. Most were expected to be released.

Meanwhile, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were inspecting the 9-year-old Airbus A320, which was towed to Battery Park City and moored to a bulkhead just north of the World Financial Center. Sullenberger, a 57-year-old former Air Force fighter pilot and a 29-year veteran of US Airways, told air traffic controllers he hit a flock of geese and that it knocked out both of his engines. It appeared to be the first time in 45 years that a major aircraft crash-landed in the water - and every passenger on board made it out alive. Former Airbus executive George Hamlin said the pilot deserves a big thank you from the city. "Ditching an aircraft is a significant accomplishment on the part of the pilot, as opposed to crashing one," he said. "There's no place for an airplane of that size to land in Manhattan." Bush offers praise President Bush, whose farewell address was overshadowed by the drama in New York, echoed that praise. "Laura and I are inspired by the skill and heroism of the flight crew as well as the dedication and selflessness of the emergency responders and volunteers who rescued passengers from the icy waters of the Hudson," Bush said.

Flight 1549, bound for Charlotte, N.C., was scheduled to take off at 3:04 p.m. from LaGuardia Airport. Many of the passengers were Bank of America bankers heading home. The plane was on the tarmac for 22 minutes before it tookoff from runway 4 at 3:26 p.m., the FAA reported. Three minutes later, Sullenberger radioed an air traffic controller on Long Island and reported "a double bird strike" and that he was losing power fast, Doug Church of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said. At that point, the plane was over Bergen County, N.J., too far from LaGuardia to turn back. So the controller told Sullenberger to try landing at Teterboro Airport. "Let's do it," the pilot replied. As soon as he said the words Sullenberger realized the plane would never make it and headed for the river, clearing the George Washington Bridge by 1,000 feet. "We were aware he was going to try and land in the river," Church said. "We could follow him on the radar as he passed over the George Washington Bridge." Back in the cabin, the passengers knew they were in trouble.

Chesley Sullenberger, III is being hailed as a hero after making the emergency landing. "Everyone started saying prayers," Kolodjay said. Then the intercom cracked and the pilot gave the order. "Brace for impact," he said. Seconds later, the jet with 155 passengers and crew members was down and a rescue operation was underway in the water off the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. In a city that's seen everything, hundreds braved the cold and watched the rescue in slack-jawed amazement from the shoreline. "It was just going down further and further and further," said Peter Chinchino, of Edgewater, N.J. "I could not believe what I was seeing." Many witnesses said they thought a movie was being shot, not realizing a real-life drama was being played out. "I heard a boom and I saw a splash," said Larry Brunson, a car repairman for the LIRR who was at 12th Ave. and 40th St. when the plane went down. "People were grabbing on top of the plane and a wing as it sank." For others, the falling plane evoked horrible memories of the 9/11 attacks.

"I saw a plane flying really, really low and I just thought, 'Not again,' " one visibly upset witness said. The feds said there was no evidence of terrorism. "There is no information at this time to indicate that this is a security-related incident," said Homeland Security press secretary Laura Keehner. Anyone finding luggage or other items possibly from US Airways Flight 1549 should call 311 and report it. Callers from outside the city are asked to call (212) NEW-YORK. All Safe as US Airways Plane Crashes Into Hudson River in New York - The New York Times The New York Times N.Y. / Region |Pilot Is Hailed After Jetliner’s Icy Plunge Search Continue reading the main story Photo The partly submerged Airbus A320 floated along a pier in Battery Park City on Thursday night. Credit Robert Stolarik for The New York Times A US Airways jetliner with 155 people aboard lost power in both engines, possibly from striking birds , after taking off from La Guardia Airport on Thursday afternoon. The pilot ditched in the icy Hudson River and all on board were rescued by a flotilla of converging ferries and emergency boats, the authorities said.

What might have been a catastrophe in New York — one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack — was averted by a pilot’s quick thinking and deft maneuvers, and by the nearness of rescue boats, a combination that witnesses and officials called miraculous. As stunned witnesses watched from high-rise buildings on both banks, the Airbus A320, which had risen to 3,200 feet over the Bronx and banked left, came downriver, its fuselage lower than many apartment terraces and windows, in a carefully executed touchdown shortly after 3:30 p.m. that sent up huge plumes of water at midstream, between West 48th Street in Manhattan and Weehawken, N.J. On board, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to La Guardia, had made a command decision to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson, and had warned the 150 passengers to brace for a hard landing. Most had their heads down as the jetliner slammed into the water, nose slightly up, just three minutes after takeoff on what was to be a flight to Charlotte, N.C.

Continue reading the main story Many on board and watching from the shores were shocked that the aircraft did not sink immediately. Instead, it floated, twisting and drifting south in strong currents, as three New York Waterway commuter ferries moved in. Moments later, terrified passengers began swarming out the emergency exits into brutally cold air and onto the submerged wings of the bobbing jetliner, which began taking in water. Advertisement Continue reading the main story As the first ferry nudged up alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto the decks. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews. Soon, a small armada of police boats, fireboats, tugboats and Coast Guard craft converged on the scene, and some of them snubbed up to keep the jetliner afloat. Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues. Over the next hour, as a captivated city watched continuous television reports and the Hudson turned from gold to silver in the gathering winter twilight, all of the passengers, including at least one baby, and both pilots and all three flight attendants, were transferred to the rescue boats — a feat that unfolded as the white-and-blue jetliner continued to drift south.

When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said. Brought ashore on both sides of the river, the survivors were taken to hospitals in Manhattan and New Jersey, mostly for treatment of exposure to the brutal cold: 18 degrees in the air, about 35 degrees in the water that many had stood in on the wings up to their waists. Photo Still, most of them walked ashore, some grim with fright and shivering with cold, wrapped in borrowed coats. But others were smiling, and a few were ready to give interviews to mobs of reporters and television cameras. Some described their survival as a miracle, a sentiment repeated later by city and state officials; others gave harrowing accounts of an ordeal whose outcome few might have imagined in such a crisis. Even the aircraft was saved for examination by investigators — towed down the Hudson and tied up at Battery Park City. In the glare of floodlights, the top of its fuselage, part of a wing and the blue-and-red tail fin jutted out of the water, but its US Airways logo and many of its windows were submerged. “We’ve had a miracle on 34th Street,” Gov.

David A. Paterson said at a late-afternoon news conference in Manhattan. “I believe now we’ve had a miracle on the Hudson. This pilot, somehow, without any engines, was somehow able to land this plane, and perhaps without any injuries to the passengers. This is a potential tragedy that may have become one of the most magnificent days in the history of New York City agencies.” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that there had been few injuries and that the pilot had done “a masterful job.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story W. Douglas Parker, chairman and chief executive of US Airways, and officials of the Federal Aviation Administration said that Flight 1549 had taken off from La Guardia at 3:26 p.m., bound for Charlotte. It headed north, across the East River and over the Bronx on a route that would involve a sweeping left turn to head south. But both engines lost power about a minute into the flight. The National Transportation Safety Board and state and local agencies are to investigate the cause of the crash, which could take months, but early indications were that the plane’s engines had shut down after having ingested a flock of birds — variously described as geese or gulls.

It was not clear where the birds were encountered. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a “double bird strike.” Without power, returning to the airport was out of the question, aviation experts said. He saw a small airport in the distance, apparently at Teterboro, N.J., but decided to head down the Hudson and make a water landing, a rare event that is mentioned in the safety instructions given by flight crews to all passengers on every flight. Aviation experts said such a maneuver is tricky. An angle of descent that is too steep could break off the wings and send the aircraft to the bottom. Witnesses in high-rise buildings on both sides of the river described a gradual descent that appeared to be carefully controlled, almost as if the choppy surface of the Hudson were a paved tarmac. Susan Obel, a retiree who lives on West 70th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in a 20th-floor apartment, saw the plane flying amazingly low.

“When you see a plane somewhere that it isn’t supposed to be, you get that eerie feeling,” she said. “I didn’t think it was a terrorist, but I did worry.” On the plane, passengers heard the pilot say on the intercom, “Brace for impact.” One passenger, Elizabeth McHugh, 64, of Charlotte, seated on the aisle near the rear, said flight attendants shouted more instructions: feet flat on the floor, heads down, cover your heads. “I prayed and prayed and prayed,” she said. “Believe me, I prayed.” Photo Capt. C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who made an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Fulmer Duckworth, 41, who works in computer graphics for Bank of America — coincidentally, more than 20 of the passengers work for the bank, which is based in Charlotte — was in a meeting on the 29th floor of a building at 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas when he saw the plane hit the water. “It made this huge, gigantic splash, and I actually thought it was a boat crash at first,” he said.

“It didn’t occur to me that it was a plane in the water.” Neil Lasher, 62, a consultant for Sony Music Publishing who lives in a 27th-floor apartment near the shore in Guttenberg, N.J., watched the plane go down. Advertisement “As soon as the plane hit the water,” he said, “I could see the New York Waterway ferries from New York York and the Jersey side, within a minute, heading toward the airplane.” The aircraft began to spin counterclockwise in the water and to drift south with the current. “As soon as we hit, we all jolted frontward and sideways, and then the water started coming in around my feet,” Ms. McHugh said. She got up and was pushed along the aisle and out an exit, then slid down an inflated slide into a life raft . One of the passengers who scrambled out onto the wing was Jeff Kolodjay, 31, who had been in Seat 22A in the rear. He said that after the emergency doors were opened, the plane began to take on water. In what he described as “organized chaos,” the passengers, all wearing life vests, “just walked through the water” toward the exits.

“We were just looking to be calm, and walking a straight line,” he said. Dozens of survivors were taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan. Jim Mandler, a spokesman at Roosevelt, said 10 patients, ranging from their early 30s to a woman about 85, had been treated, mainly for hypothermia. A flight attendant had suffered a lacerated leg. At the Weehawken ferry terminal, passengers shivered under blankets. A woman on a stretcher was carried from the terminal to an ambulance, a dazed look on her face. F.A.A. records showed that the aircraft involved in the crash had made at least two other emergency landings in this decade. On Feb. 2, 2002, pilots spotted flames in the left engine, and on June 23, 2003, indicators warned about problems with a landing gear. A later inspection showed it was a false warning. Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi, which sent boats to the scene in the Hudson but did not participate in the rescues, said the setting was, in a sense, ideal for a crash landing on water.

“It couldn’t have gone down in a better location because there are so many water-borne assets there,” he said. “The pilot must have been both talented and charmed.” Correction: January 20, 2009 Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about the crash-landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River misstated, in some editions, the timing of the most recent commercial jet crash in the United States. It took place last month in Denver, not 30 months ago in Lexington, Ky. Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Ken Belson, Viv Bernstein, Ralph Blumenthal, Cara Buckley, Russ Buettner, Glenn Collins, Jim Dwyer, Kareem Fahim, Kevin Flynn, Anemona Hartocollis, Christine Hauser, Javier C. Hernandez, C. J. Hughes, Tina Kelley, Corey Kilgannon, Patrick LaForge, Andrew W. Lehren, Patrick McGeehan, Jo Craven McGinty, Mick Meenan, Christine Negroni, Kenny Porpora, William K.

Rashbaum, Ray Rivera, Liz Robbins, Marc Santora, Nate Schweber, Kirk Semple, Joel Stonington, A. E. Velez, Mathew R. Warren and Margot Williams. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: All 155 Aboard Safe as Crippled Jet Crash-Lands in Hudson. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe - CNN.com Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe Story Highlights NEW: Flight's pilot, C.B. Sullenberger, emerges as hero of "miracle on the Hudson" All 155 passengers and crew aboard US Airways Flight 1549 alive, FAA says President says he is inspired by skill, heroism of flight crew, rescue teams Flight was headed from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina TIMELINE NEW YORK (CNN) -- A US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into a chilly Hudson River on Thursday, apparently after striking at least one bird upon takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, according to officials and passengers.

iReporter Julie Pukelis used a camera and a telescope to get this view of the scene in the river. more photos » Everyone on board was accounted for and alive, officials said. About 15 people were being treated at hospitals and others were being evaluated at triage centers. Flight 1549, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, was airborne less than three minutes, according to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. The pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that he had experienced a bird strike and declared an emergency, a New Jersey State Police source said. "I think a lot of people started praying and just collecting themselves," said passenger Fred Berretta. "It was quite stunning." He said he was expecting the plane to flip over and break apart, but it did not. "It was a great landing," Berretta said. Air traffic controllers at LaGuardia saw the plane clear the George Washington Bridge by less than 900 feet before gliding into the water about 3:31 p.m., an aviation source told CNN. iReport.com: Are you there?

Send images Don't Miss Statement from US Airways Web site Witness Ben Vonklemperer said he watched the plane from the 25th floor of an office building. "If someone's going to land a plane in the water, this seemed the best possible way to do it," Vonklemperer said. "The way they hit it was very gradual. A very slow contact with the water." As the situation began to settle Thursday evening, the flight's pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, emerged as a hero, with praise being heaped on him by passengers, officials and aviation experts. "I don't think there's enough praise to go around for someone who does something like this. This is something you really can't prepare for," said former Delta pilot Denny Walsh. "You really don't practice water landings in commercial airplanes. Just the sheer expertise he demonstrated is amazing." US Airways CEO Doug Parker said it would be premature to speculate about the cause of the accident until the National Transportation Safety Board , which is sending a team to the site, completed an investigation.

A source familiar with the situation, however, told CNN the pilot reported a double bird strike, but it was unclear whether that meant birds in both engines or two birds in one engine. The pilot initially said he needed to go back, and air traffic controllers started to give him clearance to do so, but the pilot said he wanted to head to Teterboro, New Jersey, because it was closer. That was the last transmission from the pilot, the source said. Passenger Alberto Panero said that within a few minutes after takeoff, he heard a loud bang and smelled smoke. Watch passenger say he heard a loud bang » "That's when we knew we were going down and into the water. We just hit, and somehow the plane stayed afloat and we were able to get on the raft. It's just incredible right now that everybody's still alive." Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Connecticut, said he was sitting in seat 22A, near one of the engines. "The captain came on and said, 'Look, we're going down. Brace for impact.' Everyone looked at each other and we said our prayers.

I said about five Hail Marys," said Kolodjay, who was headed to Charlotte to play golf. "The plane started filling with water pretty quick," he said. "It was scary. There was a lady with her baby on my left-hand shoulder, and she was crawling over the seats." Watch footage of plane in water » Police, fire and Coast Guard boats, along with commercial ferries, were quickly on the scene as passengers lined up on slightly submerged safety chutes. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said later Thursday that the plane was tied to a pier at Battery Park City in lower Manhattan. As night fell, Coast Guard and FDNY boats remained at the scene. President Bush commended those involved in the rescue. "Laura and I are inspired by the skill and heroism of the flight crew as well as the dedication and selflessness of the emergency responders and volunteers who rescued passengers from the icy waters of the Hudson," he said. Bloomberg also commended the pilot for not leaving the plane until he had checked to make sure everyone had been been evacuated. "It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Bloomberg said.

"I had a long conversation with the pilot," Bloomberg said. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and assures us there were not." "There is a heroic pilot," said Gov. David Paterson. "We have had a miracle on 34th Street, I believe we now have a miracle on the Hudson." The temperature in New York was 20 degrees about the time of the crash off Manhattan's west side. See map of crash site » Dr. Gabriel Wilson, associated medical director of the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital, said 55 survivors were checked out and cleared to leave from the scene. Those being treated at hospitals included a husband and wife with hypothermia at Roosevelt Hospital, as well as a flight attendant with a leg fracture, hospital spokeswoman Michelle Stiles said. Since 1975, five large jetliners have had major accidents in which bird strikes played a role, according to the Web site of Bird Strike Committee USA, a volunteer group dedicated to reducing the frequency and severity of the strikes.

More than 56,000 bird strikes were reported to the FAA from 1998 to 2004, according to the group's Web site. People who believe they may have had relatives on the flight may call US Airways at 1-800-679-8215 within the United States, the airline said. Audio of US Airways Flight That Landed in Hudson Audio of US Airways Flight That Landed in Hudson 2/5/2009 6:19PM Hear audio of air-traffic controllers and the pilot of US Airways flight 1549, which crash landed in New York's Hudson River in January. The pilot 'Sully' Sullenberger guided the plane into the river after it collided with birds, causing both engines to fail. 'Miracle on the Hudson': All safe in jet crash - US news - Life | NBC News + - NEW YORK — With both engines out, a cool-headed pilot maneuvered his crowded jetliner over New York City and ditched it in the frigid Hudson River on Thursday, and all 155 on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank.

It was, the governor said, "a miracle on the Hudson." One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries. The plane, a US Airways Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds during takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia Airport and was submerged up to its windows in the river by the time rescuers arrived in Coast Guard vessels and ferries. Some passengers waded in water up to their knees, standing on the wing of the plane and waiting for help. "He was phenomenal," passenger Joe Hart said. "He landed it — I tell you what — the impact wasn't a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you. "Both engines cut out and he actually floated it into the river," he added. In a city still wounded from the aerial attack on the World Trade Center, authorities were quick to assure the public that terrorism wasn't involved. Police divers had to rescue some of the passengers from underwater, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Among those on board was one infant who appeared to be fine, the mayor said.

Helen Rodriguez, a paramedic who was among the first to arrive at the scene, said she saw one woman with two broken legs. Fire officials said others were evaluated for hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries. Advertise "We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson," Gov. David Paterson said. The crash took place on a 20-degree day, one of the coldest of the season in New York. The water temperature was 36 degrees, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Moore said. He estimates that hypothermia can hit within five to eight minutes at that temperature. 'Brace for impact' "The captain said, 'Brace for impact because we're going down,'" passenger Jeff Kolodjay said. He said passengers put their heads in their laps and started praying. He said the plane hit the water pretty hard, but he was fine. The pilot was identified as Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger of Danville, Calif. "It was intense. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing," Kolodjay said.

"He is the consummate pilot," his wife, Lorrie Sullenberger, told the New York Post. Sullenberger is an U.S. Air Force Academy grad who flew F-4 fighter planes while in the Air Force, she said. "He is about performing that airplane to the exact precision to which it is made." MSNBC TV Flight 1549 pilot "Sully" Sullenberger. Sullenberger is an airline safety expert who has consulted with NASA and others, according to his resume posted on the Internet. He has 40 years of experience, 29 with US Airways, and hold masters' degrees in public administration and industrial psychology. "It was intense. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing," Kolodjay said. Another passenger, Fred Berretta, who was on his way home to Charlotte from a business trip, told CNN doors were opened on both sides of the plane "as soon as we hit the water." Witnesses said the plane's pilot appeared to guide the plane down.

Bob Read, a television producer who saw the crash from his office window, said it appeared to be a "controlled descent." Paramedics treated at least 78 patients, fire officials said. Coast Guard boats rescued 35 people who were immersed in the frigid water and ferried them to shore. Some of the rescued were shivering and wrapped in white blankets, their feet and legs soaked. One commuter ferry, the Thomas Jefferson of the company NY Waterway, arrived within minutes of the crash, and some of its own riders grabbed life vests and lines of rope and tossed them to plane passengers in the water. Advertise Panicked people "They were cheering when we pulled up," ferry captain Vincent Lombardi. "We had to pull an elderly woman out of a raft in a sling. She was crying. ... People were panicking. They said, 'hurry up, hurry up.'" Two police scuba divers said they pulled another woman from a lifeboat "frightened out of her mind" and lethargic from hypothermia. Another woman fell off a rescue raft, and the divers said they swam over and put her on a Coast Guard boat.

US Airways Flight 1549 took off at 3:26 p.m. It was less than a minute later when the pilot reported a "double bird strike" and said he needed to return to LaGuardia, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He said the controller told the pilot to divert to an airport in nearby Teterboro, N.J. Eric Thayer / Reuters Police divers helped in the rescue. It was not clear why the pilot did not land at Teterboro. Church said there was no mayday call from the plane's transponder. The plane splashed into the water off roughly 48th Street in midtown Manhattan — one of the busiest and most closely watched stretches of the river. US Airways CEO Doug Parker confirmed that 150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots were on board the jetliner. Bank of America and Wells Fargo said they had employees on the plane. Charlotte is a major banking center. The plane remained afloat but sinking slowly as it drifted downriver. Gradually, the fuselage went under until about half of the tail fin and rudder was above water.

Bloomberg said the aircraft finally wound up near Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan and about four miles from where the pilot ditched it. The Federal Aviation Administration says there were about 65,000 bird strikes to civil aircraft in the United States from 1990 to 2005, or about one for every 10,000 flights. "They literally just choke out the engine and it quits," said Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot. He said air traffic control towers routinely alert pilots if there are birds in the area. “The plane flew through a flock of birds and both engines were damaged. That’s all we know right now,” said Dave Steyer, a technician with the wildlife research office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which helps the FAA study what it calls bird strikes. Video: Anatomy of a crash Worldwide since 1960, crashes of more than 25 large aircraft were caused by bird strikes, according to a published study by Richard Dolbeer, a retired ornithologist with the Department of Agriculture at the Wildlife Services in Sandusky, Ohio. In 23 of these incidents, the strike occurred below 400 feet.

In the U.S., the FAA tracked more than 38,000 bird strikes from 1990 to 2004, according to a study by Dolbeer. He used data from the FAA's National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation. He concluded that management of birds should focus on the airport environment. The Hudson crash took place almost exactly 27 years after an Air Florida plane bound for Tampa crashed into the Potomac River just after takeoff from Washington National Airport, killing 78 people. Five people on that flight survived. On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people. That was the first major crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner mistakenly took off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky.

© 2013 msnbc.com Pilot in Hudson River Crash Flew Air Force Fighter Jets | Fox News Pilot in Hudson River Crash Flew Air Force Fighter Jets Published January 16, 2009 NEW YORK – A US Airways pilot who safely landed an Airbus 320 in the Hudson River off the shores of Manhattan without any fatalities is being hailed as a hero. So, who exactly is Chesley B. Sullenburger III? Sullenburger's daughter, contacted by FOXNews.com Thursday night, declined to confirm details about her father. An official familiar with the accident told The Associated Press the 57-year-old, of Danville, Calif., is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft. Click here to see photos. "We've had a 'Miracle on 34th Street' and now we have a miracle on the Hudson," said New York Gov. David Paterson. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the pilot, whom he declined to identify, told him that he walked through the plane twice to make sure everyone was off before exiting the aircraft.

Sullenberger, who has flown for US Airways since 1980, flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations. He is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a base for safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site. Sullenberger's mailbox at the firm was full on Thursday. A group of fans sprang up on Facebook within hours of the emergency landing. "OMG, I am terrified of flying but I would be happy to be a passenger on one of your aircraft!!" Melanie Wills in Bristol wrote on the wall of "Fans of Sully Sullenberger." "You have saved a lot of peoples lives and are a true hero!!" Passenger Joe Hart said Sullenberger "was phenomenal." "He landed it — I tell you what, the impact wasn't a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you. Both engines cut out and he actually floated it into the river," he said.

Another passenger, Jeff Kolodjay, said the captain instructed them to "brace for impact because we're going down." "You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing," Kolodjay said. FOXNews.com's Michelle Maskaly and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Advertisement US Airways Flight 1549 - The New York Times The New York Times Supported by US Airways Flight 1549 News about US Airways Flight 1549, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. More Updated: June 9, 2009 On Jan. 15, 2009, a US Airways jetliner with 155 people aboard flew into a flock of geese and lost power in both engines shortly after taking off from La Guardia Airport on its way to Charlotte, N.C. The pilot, Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, splash-landed the plane in the icy Hudson River. Ferries and rescue boats swarmed toward the plane from both banks of the river, and all on board were brought to shore safely in a dramatic episode that made Mr.

Sullenberger a national hero to many, and entered the rescue of Flight 1549 into airline lore. Workers and others in high-rise buildings on both banks of the congested Hudson were transfixed as the A320 Airbus came downriver in mid-afternoon, its fuselage lower than many apartment terraces and windows, in a carefully executed touchdown that sent up huge plumes of water at midstream, between West 48th Street in Manhattan and Weehawken, N.J. What might have been a catastrophe was averted by a pilot's quick thinking and deft maneuvers, and by the nearness of rescue boats, a combination that witnesses and officials called miraculous. The aircraft struck the geese at 2,700 feet within 1 minute 37 seconds after takeoff. At that point, according to transcripts from the air traffic control of that flight, Captain Sullenberger told the tower that "we lost thrust in both engines." He determined quickly that he could not return quickly enough to La Guardia or make it to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey for a safe landing.

"The only option remaining in the metropolitan area that was long enough, wide enough and smooth enough to land was the Hudson River," he said. He warned the passengers to brace for a hard landing. Most had their heads down as the jetliner slammed into the water, nose slightly up, just three minutes after takeoff. The aircraft did not sink immediately. Instead, it floated, twisting and drifting south in strong currents, as three New York Waterway commuter ferries moved in. Moments later, terrified passengers began swarming out the emergency exits into cold January air and onto the submerged wings of the bobbing jetliner, which began taking in water. Soon, a small armada of police boats, fireboats, tugboats and Coast Guard craft converged on the scene, and some of them snubbed up to keep the jetliner afloat. Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues. All of the passengers, including at least one baby, and both pilots and all three flight attendants, were transferred to the rescue boats, even as the crippled white-and-blue jetliner continued to drift south.

When all were out, officials said, Captain Sullenberger walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty. A Look Back at the 'Miracle on the Hudson' Video - ABC News ABC News It's been five years since a US Airways plane safely landed on the Hudson River. 3:00 | 01/15/14 Coming up in the next {{countdown}} {{countdownlbl}} Coming up next: More information on this video Enhanced full screen Video Transcript Transcript for A Look Back at the 'Miracle on the Hudson' Today marks five years since the so called miracle on the Hudson. Captain Chesley Sullenberger or Sully as he's known save the lives of 155. People by making an unbelievable landing on the Hudson River you. US Airways flight in just taken off from LaGuardia when a flock of birds jam the plane's engines. We open ABC news vault to January 15 2009. From an ABC news headquarters this. Old news -- Charles Gibson. Good evening you get a call like we did this afternoon and you immediately feared the worst good morning America's Robin Roberts called -- there's a plane down in the Hudson River she reported.

An airliner. US air flight 1549. Had just taken off from New York's LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte the Airbus -- -- one it was fully loaded. 150 passengers and crew onboard. Within minutes the plane crash landed into the icy waters of the Hudson River. All indications are the plane struck something a bird strike most likely. The pilot used the river as a runway in order to make a water landing. And the great news everyone made it off the plane safely John Berman starts our coverage tonight. He was a stunning scene on the frigid Hudson River I was -- the big. A terrifying flight turned into a miraculous rescue. A race to save lives from the sea and air commercial water fairies in city firefighters rushed to the sinking plane. Pulling passengers from the icy waters. It was an astounding -- to a five minute flight. US Airways flight 1549 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport headed to Charlotte, North Carolina its path -- -- north. Then a short -- southwest over the -- it. Three minutes into the flight the pilot reported -- bird strikes he told controllers he wanted to return to LaGuardia. He apparently couldn't make it.

Officials say the pilot looped around once before heating the water to give passengers a chance to prepare for impact passengers climbed on the wings as the plane filled with water. Floating down the river in the swift current. It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river. And then making sure that everybody got out. Mentioned just what a great decision that pilot made his name Chesley Sullenberger the third. Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy used to fly F four phantom jets went in. The military. And Mayor Bloomberg said that the pilot Sullenberger Sully they call and walked the plane twice after it was on the surface of the water to make sure there were no more passengers. On board. Five years ago today Sully Sullenberger I'm like -- -- this guy. He's so the real deal well yeah he -- become a reality show star hasn't been on cheesy television commercials has become an advocate for airlines say he's become a best selling author. This guy is just the real deal a disease -- class. The NEA calls that the most harrowing three minutes of my life he said and after that he actually suffered from insomnia but he did you go back to flying for some time.

I'm originally and I suppose I know exactly I think I'd retire but not this guy is exactly says even more about what an incredible I don't make them like that -- he's just really incredible. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. Pilot landed in Hudson to avoid 'catastrophic consequences' - CNN.com Pilot landed in Hudson to avoid 'catastrophic consequences' Story Highlights NEW: Crews hoist US Airways Flight 1549 from icy Hudson River Pilot said aircraft was flying "too low, too slow" to risk returning to airport Plane in air less than 90 seconds when collision occurred One engine in river, one still attached, investigators say MAP NEW YORK (CNN) -- The pilot who landed a crippled US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River thought there would have been "catastrophic consequences" if he tried to make it to a nearby airport, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Saturday night. US Airways Flight 1549 remained in the icy Hudson River on Saturday. more photos » Instead, pilot Pilot C.B.

"Sully" Sullenberger decided to ditch the plane in the Hudson River close to vessels moving about the water "to improve chances of recovery," NTSB board member Kitty Higgins said. It was the first time the public heard comments from Sullenberger and first officer Jeffrey B. Skiles describing Thursday's emergency landing. Skiles was flying US Airways Flight 1549, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, when he noticed a flock of birds less than 90 seconds after the plane had taken off from New York's LaGuardia International Airport, Higgins said. In an instant, the plane was rocked by loud thuds and both engines went out, Higgins said. Watch the plane hit the water » "He commented on the formation, and he said the next thing he knew, the windscreen was filled with birds. There was no time to take evasive action," Higgins said. Sullenberger took control of the aircraft while Skiles began complicated procedures to try to restart the engines, Higgins said. Sullenberger thought the plane was moving "too low, too slow" to risk returning to LaGuardia through the maze of buildings.

Nor did Sullenberger think the powerless aircraft could make it over the densely populated New Jersey area to Teterboro, Higgins said. "There could be catastrophic consequences if we didn't make it," she quoted Sullenberger as saying. Watch CNN's Lisa Sylvester report on the pilots » City officials, passengers and aviation experts have lauded Sullenberger and the flight crew for their handling of the landing and also praised first responders who acted quickly to minimize passengers' injuries in below-freezing temperatures. All 155 people on board the plane survived. "These are both very experienced pilots. They knew what they had to do," Higgins said. Don't Miss Passengers praise 'phenomenal landing' Neither Sullenberger nor Skiles attended the news conference. Earlier in the day, the NTSB revealed the content of communications between the cockpit and controllers at LaGuardia in the brief period during which the incident unfolded. "This is cactus 1549, hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines," Sullenberger told controllers at approximately 3:27 p.m. Thursday.

"We're turning back towards LaGuardia." Controllers immediately began preparations to clear a runway for an emergency landing, but less than a minute later, Sullenberger reported that the aircraft wouldn't make it, Higgins said. The last communication from the plane to controllers, Higgins said, was the pilot saying, "We're gonna be in the Hudson." Watch a former pilot tell how to water-land a plane » Higgins also quoted two of the flight's attendants, who were in jump seats at the front of the aircraft when they heard a loud thud shortly after takeoff. "It was a sound that neither one of them had ever heard before," Higgins said. "They said all the engine noise ceased. They described it as complete silence, like a library." Efforts to raise the jetliner from the river proved successful late Saturday, as cranes lifted it clear of the water about 11:30 p.m. ET following several hours of work by crews in frigid conditions. Video from the scene showed the right side of the aircraft with the engine intact but its covering mangled. It was not clear visually whether the damage was from an in-flight incident or from the landing impact.

Investigators planned to tow the plane on a barge to an undisclosed location for their examination. Watch workers begin the retrieval process » The flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- both crucial to determining exactly what happened Thursday -- remained on the aircraft, which was still largely submerged in the Hudson River but was secured to moorings. Strong currents and cold water thwarted divers' efforts to retrieve the recorders from the tail section of the jetliner, Higgins said. Also Saturday, authorities released audio and transcripts of two 911 calls from people who said they saw that the plane was in trouble. Listen to callers report plane in the river » One caller said he saw the plane descend and reported hearing a loud noise shortly after the aircraft took off. "Oh, my God! It was a big plane, I heard a big boom just now. We looked up, and the plane came straight over us, and it was turning. Oh, my God!" a man calling from the Bronx told a 911 operator at 3:29 p.m., three minutes after the plane left LaGuardia. Minutes later, at 3:33 p.m., a woman called 911 and reported seeing the plane in the water.

"A plane has just crashed into the Hudson River," she told an operator. "A US Air big DC-9 or -10 has crashed into the Hudson River. ... Oh, my gosh!"

Question: Who was the pilot of the US Airways plane that landed on the Hudson River in January 2009?
Answer: Chesley Sullenberger