Earlier today a very good pilot from US Airways landed a plane safely in the Hudson River here in New York City after birds blew out two engines forcing the whole plane to fail. And please don’t listen to the news reporters who are calling it a crash because it really does make the pilot look bad and in my opinion, he was the hero in all of this.
Everyone is safe and I believe some people were taken to local hospitals but no serious injuries were reported. Below is a portion of one of many articles published already about this incident and once again, NOT A CRASH. You will find that word in the first line of the below article.
NEW YORK - A US Airways jetliner crashed into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a flock of birds apparently disabled both its engines, but rescuers pulled the more than 150 passengers and crew members into boats before the plane sank.
After boats rushed to the rescue, the Federal Aviation Administration said that all passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 were off the plane and safe.
“We do not believe there are any serious injuries,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference Thursday evening, noting some were taken to hospitals in New Jersey. “The pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and getting the passengers out.”
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the flight had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte, N.C., when the crash occurred in the river near 48th Street in New York City.
The plane, an Airbus 320, took off at 3:26 p.m. and went down minutes later, Brown said.
“There were eyewitness reports the plane may have flown into a flock of birds,” Brown said. She added, “right now we don’t have any indication this was anything other than an accident.”
Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union, said that the pilot reported a “double bird strike” about 30 to 45 seconds after takeoff and said he needed to return to LaGuardia.
The controller instructed the pilot to divert to an airport in Teterboro, N.J., for an emergency landing, Church said.
A passenger who identified himself as Jeff told NBC News the engines blew about 3 minutes into the flight. “Fire started blowing up,” he said. “I thought we would be able to circle around, but the captain said ‘brace for impact.’ … I think the captain did a helluva job.”
The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows. Rescue crews opened the door and pulled passengers in yellow life vests from the plane. Rescue boats and commuter ferry boats that ply the Hudson surrounded the plane, which appeared to be slowly sinking in the near-freezing water. The temperature was around 20 degrees.
Witnesses said the plane’s pilot appeared to guide the plane down.
“I see a commercial airliner coming down, looking like it’s landing right in the water,” said Bob Read, who saw it from his office at the television newsmagazine “Inside Edition.” “This looked like a controlled descent.”
New York City firefighters and the Coast Guard worked to rescue the passengers. The fuselage appeared intact, and the plane appeared to be sitting high in the water well after the crash with rescuers standing on the wings once they reached the site.