Pilot landed in Hudson to avoid catastrophe, NTSB says

NEW YORK (AP) — The pilot of a crippled US Airways jet liner made a split-second decision to put down in the Hudson River because trying to return to the airport after birds knocked out both engines could have led to a “catastrophic” crash in a populated neighborhood, he told investigators Saturday.

Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger said that in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was “too low, too slow” and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony.

The pilot and his first officer provided their first account to NTSB investigators Saturday of what unfolded inside US Airways Flight 1549 in the moments after it slammed into a flock of birds and lost both engines.

Co-pilot Jeff Skiles, who was flying the plane, saw the birds coming in perfect formation, and made note of it. Sullenberger looked up, and in an instant his windscreen was filled with big, dark-brown birds.

“His instinct was to duck,” said NTSB board member Kitty Higgins, recounting their interview. Then there was a thump, the smell of burning birds, and silence as both aircraft engines cut out.

The account illustrated how quickly things deteriorated after the bump at 3,000 feet, and their fast realization that returning to LaGuardia or getting to another airport was impossible.

With both engines out, flight attendants described total silence in the cabin, “like being in a library,” said Higgins. A haze and the odor of burning metal filled the plane.

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 the jet 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 of the river landing emerged Saturday, investigators worked to pull the airliner from the river. The jet lay almost entirely submerged 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 came off and floated away following the crash-landing. Divers originally thought both engines were lost, but realized Saturday that the right engine was still attached. The water had been so dark and murky that they couldn’t see it.

The conditions were treacherous, with the temperature dipping to 6 degrees and giant chunks of ice forming around the plane by midday. Divers who went into the river were sprayed down with hot water during breaks on shore.

Teams worked into the evening to remove the plane, with floodlights shining down onto the scene and emergency boats surrounding the aircraft.

The investigation played out as authorities released the first video showing the spectacular crash landing. 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 swift current that pulled 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 at 3:29 p.m. Thursday, three minutes after the plane 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!” the caller told 911.

At almost the same moment, the pilot told air-traffic controllers that he’d probably “end up in the Hudson.”

Sullenberger was seen entering a conference room of a Manhattan hotel, surrounded by federal investigators, before his interview Saturday.

NBC said “Today” show host Matt Lauer would interview Sullenberger from Washington on Monday.