Crashed jet's black boxes sent to Washington

Two black boxes were being taken to Washington today to be analyzed for clues on why their airplane's engines cut out, leading the pilot to glide the US Airways jetliner into New York's Hudson River.

The aircraft was slowly hoisted from the frigid waters late yesterday, exposing a torn and shredded underbelly that dropped pieces of metal as it was maneuvered in the darkness onto a waiting barge.

It wasn't immediately clear where the barge would be taken. Divers still have to recover the sunken left engine of the plane, but now have an idea where to look.

A sonar team has identified an object directly below the crash site, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB.

Capt Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger, speaking to NTSB investigators for the first time yesterday, said he made a split-second decision to put down in the river rather than risk a "catastrophic" crash in a populated neighborhood after birds knocked out both engines.

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, NTSB board member Kitty Higgins said.

Sullenberger recounted seeing his windshield filled with big, dark-brown birds.

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