Crash details emerging

Crash details emerging
Pilot: ‘We’re gonna be in the Hudson.’

Published Sunday, January 18, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) - Investigators provided a dramatic detailed account yesterday of the ill-fated US Airways flight that crash-landed in the Hudson River, with the pilot telling controllers just moments after takeoff, "We’re gonna be in the Hudson."

"We hit birds. We lost thrust in both engines," the pilot said. "We’re turning back toward LaGuardia."

Less than a minute later, the pilot told the tower that he was unable to turn around and that they were going to end up in the river.

The account was provided by National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins, who gave a minute-by-minute timeline of the flight. Investigators also interviewed the pilots, but the details of the discussion was not immediately clear.

All 155 people aboard survived the accident and were quickly rescued by ferries and emergency crews.

The gripping account came as crews attempted to remove the plane from the icy river as it sank deeper into the water. The jet lay almost entirely submerged yesterday next to a sea wall in lower Manhattan as workers positioned a crane to haul it on to a waiting barge.

Only the tip of its tail was above water. Earlier in the morning, some of its fuselage and part of a wing were also visible. Divers also went into the frigid waters and were sprayed down with hot water during breaks on the shore.

Investigators still planned to attempt to pull the jetliner from the river last night.

The plane is more intact than previously thought, however. Federal investigators said the aircraft’s right engine, which they initially believed had come off and drifted away, is still attached to the plane.

An NTSB spokesman said the water was so murky - even before ice began to form - that authorities couldn’t see the engine still on the plane.

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.

Crews will use a crane to raise the plane a few feet at a time to let the water drain out, possibly with the help of bilge pumps. Devices will be attached to each wing to measure the plane’s weight as it comes out of the water.

After the plane is up, it will be taken to New Jersey for examination.

The delicate task of removing the aircraft was not the only work playing out on the Hudson River. Divers and sonar operators hunted for the missing engine in the cold, dark and murky river.

The engine was lost when Flight 1549 splashed down after colliding with birds. Exactly where, though, was a mystery. Army Corps of Engineers vessels and city police department boats resumed the search yesterday.