Plane crashes in river

Bird-hit US Airbus makes emergency landing on the Hudson River in Manhattan. All 155 on board rescued

Plane crashes in river

Bird-hit US Airbus makes emergency landing on the Hudson River in Manhattan. All 155 on board rescued

"Prepare for impact, we're going down!," was all the pilot of the US Airways flight 1549 told the passengers before making an emergency landing in the Hudson River. The pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid waters on Thursday afternoon (US time) after a collision with a flock of birds knocked out both engines. Rescuers pulled all 155 people to safety.

Apart from the 150 passengers, there were three flight attendants and two pilots.

Passenger Jeff Kolodjay, said he heard an explosion two or three minutes into the flight, looked out the left side of the Airbus A320 and saw one of the engines on fire. He said passengers put their heads in their laps and started praying. He said the plane hit the water pretty hard, but he was fine.

"The engine blew. There was fire everywhere and it smelled like gas," said Kolodjay. "People were bleeding all over. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing."

The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows when rescuers in police and Coast Guard vessels and ferry boats arrived, opened the door and pulled passengers in yellow life vests from the aircraft, whose fuselage appeared intact. The plane was sinking in the near-freezing water on one of the coldest days of the year, with the mercury around 20 degrees. Other passengers were able to walk out onto the wings, then onto rescue boats.

Paramedics treated at least 78 patients, fire officials said. The Coast Guard said it rescued 35 people who were immersed in the cold water and ferried them to shore. Most were sent to hospitals.

Barbara Sambriski, a researcher at The Associated Press, saw the plane go down from the news organization's high-rise office. "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water," she said.

"This is really a potential tragedy that may have become one of the most spectacular days in the history of New York City's agencies, its coordination and the greatness of the people that work here and all they did for those passengers who are now tonight going to go home to their families," the governor said.

First safe water landing in 50 yrs
For the first time in 50 years of commercial jet flight, the pilots of US Airways Flight 1549 successfully executed one of the most technically challenging maneuvers landing a jetliner on water without fatalities.

Even though pilots go through the motions of training to ditch a plane in the water, the generally held belief is that such landings would almost certainly result in fatalities.

To accomplish such a feat shortly after takeoff, while maneuvering past the skyscrapers and into the crowded river, is testament to the pilot's skills.

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