US Airbus A320 floating in the Hudson River

US Airways Flight 1549

Airbus A320 floating in the Hudson River

On January 15, 2009 the US Airbubus was found floating in the Hudson River.

Due to a Multiple bird strike the US Airbus A320 was forced for a emergency water landing in Hudson River between New York City Near 48th Street and Port Imperial at Weehawken, New Jersey, United States.

US Airways Flight 1549 is a regularly scheduled daily two-leg commercial passenger flight operating from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, and SeaTac Airport servicing Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The first leg of this flight on January 15, 2009, ended about six minutes after takeoff in a forced ditching made in the Hudson River at about 3:32 pm. The flight's twin-jet Airbus A320 is believed to have ingested birds in both engines about two minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia's Runway 4 resulting in apparent bilateral compressor stalls and partial or complete loss of thrust in both powerplants. All on board survived the accident.

The plane in the Hudson River surrounded by U.S. Coast Guard, FDNY, NYPD, and ferry boats

On January 15, 2009, Flight 1549 took off from Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport in New York City at 3:26 p.m. EST (20:26 UTC) with 150 passengers and five crew members. The flight's Captain was Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III, a United States Air Force Academy graduate who flew F-4 Phantoms for the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 1980 and US Airways aircraft thereafter. His first officer was Jeff Skiles, 49, also a veteran pilot with US Airways, with more than 23 years of experience.

The plane, an Airbus A320, was scheduled to fly to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport and then on to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Washington.

A spokeswoman Laura Brown said that preliminary information indicates the plane's engines were damaged by a bird strike shortly after takeoff. Unofficial radar returns show that the flight reached a maximum altitude of 3,200 feet (975 meters) before beginning its descent. The Captain radioed to air traffic control that he had experienced a bird strike and declared an emergency. Passengers reported smelling fuel before the landing.

Ditching

One of the pilots initially requested permission to attempt an emergency landing at an airport he saw below the plane. Air traffic controllers identified the airport as Teterboro Airport in Bergen County, New Jersey. The instruction to land at Teterboro was the last communication with the plane before the pilots decided to ditch on the Hudson River due to a lack of altitude. The captain said, "Brace for impact.".

About six minutes after takeoff, the plane touched down in the Hudson River heading southbound near 48th Street in Manhattan and Port Imperial in Weehawken, New Jersey, less than a mile from Times Square and the busy streets of Midtown Manhattan, and within 3,000 feet of three ferryboat terminals. A witness stated that the plane approached the water at a gradual angle and made a big splash. From his vantage point in an office building, it appeared that the plane was not travelling at a particularly high speed, and that it made slow contact with the water. Prior to landing, air traffic control at LaGuardia reported seeing flight 1549 pass over the George Washington Bridge by less than 900 feet.

By landing successfully on water, the Captain "achieved one of the rarest and most technically challenging feats in commercial aviation", reports the Wall Street Journal.

Passengers

Local ferries and tugs began almost immediately to rescue passengers; some of whom were standing on the wings of the floating plane, while others entered life rafts Within minutes. 

police helicopters, Coast Guard vessels, rescue divers, as well as FDNY fireboat John D. McKean were on scene to help with the rescue and recovery effort. All of the passengers and flight crew were evacuated safely, though there are reported to be several mild injuries.

FDNY had 35 ambulances ready for patients coming off the flight. In addition, about 30 other ambulances were made available by other organizations, including several hospital-based ambulances (St. Vincent, St. Barnabas), and about 20 crews from various Hatzolah organizations. Various agencies also provided medical help on the Jersey City side of the river.

Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in Greenwich Village received patients from the incident (as well as St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center), to which five to ten passengers were taken for care, entirely due to exposure to cold conditions. Roosevelt Hospital received an additional ten patients. In all, fifteen passengers were treated at hospitals while others were looked after in triage facilities.

Of the 150 passengers, more than 20 were employees of Bank of America, headquartered at the plane's initial destination of Charlotte.

Aftermath:

Following the rescue, the plane remained afloat and was eventually tied to a pier near the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, roughly four miles downstream from where it landed, to prevent it from floating out to sea.

At 4:55 p.m. fire crews began to stand down. At 5:07 p.m. , Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways, issued an official statement during a press conference in Tempe, Arizona, in which he confirmed that the forced ditching was due to an accident. The most severe injury confirmed as of 5:26 p.m. was a leg fracture received by a flight attendant; the flight attendant was scheduled to undergo surgery.