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Hudson Landing Was Best Bet

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The Associated Press

Published: January 18, 2009

NEW YORK - The pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 has told investigators that he landed in the Hudson River to avoid "catastrophic consequences" over a populated area.
National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins says Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger told investigators Saturday that the plane was "too low, too slow" and near too many buildings to attempt an airport landing.

Instead, he told controllers "we're gonna be in the Hudson."

Investigators provided the dramatic new account Saturday of what unfolded inside the plane when it slammed into a flock of birds moments after takeoff and lost both engines.

The account by the National Transportation Safety Board demonstrates just how quickly the flight deteriorated from a routine takeoff to a perilous crash-landing.

It began with a thump at about 3,000 feet and the loss of all engine noise, followed by the pilots' quick realization that returning to LaGuardia or finding another airport was impossible.

The blow had come out of nowhere. The NTSB said radar data confirmed that the aircraft intersected a group of "primary targets," almost certainly birds, as it climbed over the Bronx. Those targets had not been on the radar screen of the air traffic controller who approved the departure, Higgins said.

As the details emerged, investigators worked to pull the airliner from the river. The jet lay almost entirely submerged Saturday next to a sea wall in lower Manhattan where workers positioned a crane to haul it onto a waiting barge.

Crews need to remove the cockpit voice and flight-data recorders and locate the left engine, which floated away after the crash-landing.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

•Investigators began interviewing the pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, and his co-pilot Saturday, NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said.

•NTSB authorities released the first video showing the spectacular crash-landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Security cameras on a Manhattan pier captured the Airbus A320 as it descended in a controlled glide, then threw up a spray as it slid across the river on its belly.

The video also illustrated the current that swiftly carried the plane down the river as passengers walked out onto the wings and ferry boats moved in for the rescue.

•Authorities also released a frantic 911 call that captured the drama of the flight. A man from the Bronx called 911 at 3:29 p.m. Thursday, three minutes after the plane took off.

The Associated Press

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