Positivity: Miracle, Thanks to Fabulous Rescue Response, on the Hudson
A US Airways plane crashed into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after striking a bird that disabled two engines, sending 150 on board scrambling onto rescue boats, authorities say. No deaths or serious injuries were immediately reported.Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says the US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport enroute to Charlotte, N.C., when the crash occurred in the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.
Brown says the plane, an Airbus 320, appears to have hit one or more birds.
A law enforcement official said that authorities are not aware of any deaths and that the passengers do not appear to be seriously injured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the rescue was still under way. …..
The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows. Rescue crews had opened the door and were pulling passengers in yellow life vests from the plane. Several boats surrounded the plane, which appeared to be slowly sinking.
….. Witnesses said the plane’s pilot appeared to guide the plane down.
“I see a commercial airliner coming down, looking like it’s landing right in the water,” said Bob Read, who saw it from his office at the television newsmagazine “Inside Edition.”
“This looked like a controlled descent.”
Michelle Malkin — “Consensus: The pilot and crew are miracle workers.”
USA Today, from wires:
….. The plane eventually sank in the near-freezing water on one of the coldest days of the year, with the mercury around 20 degrees.
….. Witness Barbara Sambriski, a researcher for AP who witnessed the event, said, “I just thought, ‘Why is it so low?’ And, splash, it hit the water.”
Ferries immediately surrounded the plane, which was partially submerged in the river.
The water temperature for the river near Battery Park was 41.5 degrees.
Adam Weiner was in a conference room at 1515 Broadway, overlooking the Hudson River. He told CNN he saw the plane gliding into the river.
“It looked looked like a float plane that came in for a water landing,” he said.
Weiner said he was on a conference call with people in Los Angeles. He said he saw “the door blow off and it looked like a life raft opened up,” he said, adding that the ferry boats immediately left the piers and were on the scene in less than two minutes.
