An US Airways jetliner that landed on the Hudson River Thursday was successfully hoisted out of the water late Saturday, following several hours of work by crews in frigid conditions.
Investigators planned to tow the plane on a barge to an undisclosed location for their examination.Searchers using sonar believe the left engine of the aircraft lies on the river bottom. Divers will try to confirm the finding. The flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- both critical to determining exactly what happened during the brief flight Thursday -- remained on the aircraft.
Earlier on Saturday, a National Transportation Safety Board official provided a detailed narrative, saying the pilot who landed the plane on the river thought that if he tried for a nearby airport in a densely populated area, there could have been "catastrophic consequences."
NTSB board member Kitty Higgins, relaying the first public comments from the two pilots who were in the cockpit during the emergency landing Thursday, said at a news conference that both the pilot and the first officer saw a flock of birds seconds before the plane was rocked by loud thuds and both engines failed.
City officials, passengers and others lauded pilot C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, 58, and other crew members 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.
Higgins said the first officer -- identified by US Airways as Jeffrey B. Skiles, 49 -- was flying the aircraft on takeoff from New York's LaGuardia airport when he noticed a flock of birds as the plane climbed between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.
"He commented (to Sullenberger) 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.When both engines went out following thudding impacts, Sullenberger took control of the aircraft and Skiles began complicated procedures to try to restart the engines, Higgins said. She added that interviews with the two indicated there was limited conversation between them as the aircraft began losing altitude.
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"These are both very experienced pilots. They knew what they had to do," Higgins said. Neither Sullenberger nor Skiles attended the news conference.Also Saturday, authorities released audio and transcripts of two 911 calls from people who said they saw that the plane was in trouble.
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!"
Source: CNN
