anyone watching this on TV right now?  

Wow.

I can't see anything from here Mel - whereabouts is it? Where is it near? It's not even a week since I was taking pics on the Hudson...

US Airways plane goes down in Hudson River
By The Associated Press

Updated: Jan. 15, 2009 2:57 p.m. | New York - A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, sending passengers fleeing for safety in the frigid waters. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says the US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport enroute to Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday when the crash occured.

Brown says the plane, an Airbus 320, may have been hit by birds.

New York City firefighters are responding to the crash. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries.

A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, sending passengers fleeing for safety in the frigid waters. New York City firefighters are responding to the crash. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries.

Witness Barbara Sambriski, a researcher at The Associated Press, said, "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water."

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The tv news coverage is amazing.  There are New York ferries all around the plane taking people off the wings!

Looks like the plane is whole and floating???

Wow!

Modified to add - it is indeed floating and being carried down river by the current!

I can't tell for sure, but it looks like they got everyone off?

Prayers going out to the passengers, crew, and rescuers!

Laurie

wrote on Jan 15^th, 2009 at 4:02pm:

I can't see anything from here Mel - whereabouts is it? Where is it near? It's not even a week since I was taking pics on the Hudson...

It's near the USS Intrepid which is a little North of the Port Authority terminal.  (where we hoped on the Statin I. Ferry)  Near 48th St. near Mid Town Manhattan.

Man they must be cold!  poor people.

-P.

NBC is reporting that everyone is off the plane and amazingly, everyone is ok???

Wow - bravo to the pilot and crew!

Thank God!  That pilot is a hero!!

:)

We have been watching it here at work.....You are 100% correct, that "pilot is a real true hero".....Lenny

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WOW! Skill, luck and divine intervention, I think! What a tragedy this could have been! Soo cold!
Reports state there were 151 aboard, and 151 rescued!
Amazing to watch the people waiting on the wing, and all the boats there to take them off!  
Cathi :o

Those Ferry captains and crew should be commended for reacting as they did and getting to the plane and passengers so quickly.

That's some serious shit!

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WOW!!! No casualties, un freaking believable. :o

Joe

Yea this was huge here today!!

I heard a bunch of sirens going by, and I'm on the 15th floor in a midtown building off of 57th and Madison, which is east side.  I couldn't possibly have known what was going on.. sirens aren't that uncommon in that area, lots of diplomats and SS cars always come down that drive-thru street.

Next thing you know, its all over the market news.  This was an incredible feat, I mean the plane, with all the ferries going through, and missing the George Washington Bridge as was reported on the main news radio here.  It was a complete miracle that it wasn't a major catastrophe, and there were no casualties.  

I'll say New Yorkers are pretty unflappable, but this was a jaw-dropper and eye-popper to say the least!! Freaky miracle..

i need some b-complex  [smiley=eek5.gif] [smiley=shocked.gif]and valerian....
Patty

Peppermint wrote on Jan 15^th, 2009 at 11:32pm:

i need some b-complex  [smiley=eek5.gif] [smiley=shocked.gif]and valerian.... Patty

No you don't you need some more "prayer juice" lady! From when we were so good on our little night out  ;) Honest everyone - we were pure as New York Snow - two nuns in fact. Sister Mary Merlot and Sister Limey Margarita...

I heard that this Airbus has some kind of special system to engage when it hits water and helps seal it up. Makes sense if the seal holds. Looks like both it and the captain worked in sync.

Charlie

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The website AirportMonitor shows a map-based radar graphic showing the plane's flight from La Guardia airport in New York. Follow the red plane.

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Heres a pretty good video, it shows the plane touch down and the begining of the rescue. You see the plane splash down middle screen/left at the 2:02 mark. Someone montoring the camera notices and zooms in.

Just thought I would throw this out there for folks that are interested in stuff like this, like I am.  :D

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I too, love stuff like that!  Especially with the happy ending it had.  

Less than 30 seconds after touch down and there were passengers on the wings - astounding!!  And it looked like only about 3 minutes til the first ferry pulled up.

Kinda blurry, but excellent video of the plane splash. It shows how Sully kept the nose up and dragged the tail to slow down.

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Passengers report scare on earlier US Airways Flight 1549

(CNN) -- Two days before US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River, passengers on the same route and same aircraft say they heard a series of loud bangs and the flight crew told them they could have to make an emergency landing, CNN has learned.

Steve Jeffrey of Charlotte, North Carolina, told CNN he was flying in first class Tuesday when, about 20 minutes into the flight, "it sounded like the wing was just snapping off."

"The red lights started going on. A little pandemonium was going on," Jeffrey recalled.

He said the incident occurred over Newark, New Jersey, soon after the plane -- also flying as Flight 1549 -- had taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York.

"It seemed so loud, like luggage was hitting the side but times a thousand. It startled everyone on the plane," Jeffrey said. "We started looking at each other. The stewardesses started running around. They made an announcement that 'everyone heard the noise, we're going to turn around and head back to LaGuardia and check out what happened.'

"I fly about 50 to 60 times per year, and I've never heard a noise so loud," he said. "It wasn't turbulence, it wasn't luggage bouncing around. It was just completely like the engine was thrown against the side of the plane. It just -- it didn't shake the plane but it shook you out of the seat when you're drifting off, it really woke you up. And when it happened again, everyone just started looking at each other and there was a quiet murmuring around the plane, and you could feel the tension rising just in looking.

"I remember turning to my [business] partner and saying, 'I hope you got everything in order back home, life insurance and everything, because that didn't sound good.'"

Jeffrey said he sent a text message to his wife about a "scary, scary noise on the plane. Doesn't sound right. They're flying back to LaGuardia to check it out. I'll call you when we land. I love you."

He added, "About 10 minutes later when we never made the turn, we kept going, that's when the pilot came on and explained -- I wish I could remember the words -- I remember him using air, compression and lock -- I'm not sure the right order, but he made it sound like the air didn't get to the engine and it stalled the engine out, which he said doesn't happen all the time but it's not abnormal."

Expert Aviation Consulting, an Indianapolis, Indiana, private consulting firm that includes commercial airline pilots on its staff, said the plane that landed in the Hudson was the same one as Flight 1549 from LaGuardia two days earlier.

"EAC confirms that US Airways ship number N106US flew on January 13, 2009, and January 15, 2009, with the same flight number of AWE 1549 from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte Douglas [International] Airport in North Carolina," Expert Aviation said in a statement to CNN.

The company said it checked with contacts in the aviation industry to confirm that it was the same plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, did not return calls regarding this matter Monday. It has released the tail number of the downed Airbus A-320, which is N106US.

The Federal Aviation Administration referred CNN to US Airways.

US Airways would not confirm that the Flight 1549 that took off January 13 was the same plane that splashed into the Hudson two days later.

Valerie Wunder, a US Airways spokeswoman, said: "US Air is working with the National Transportation Safety Board in this investigation." She would not comment on any other details, including Tuesday's flight, though she did confirm US Airways is looking into it.

Jeffrey told CNN that US Airways earlier Monday confirmed to him that the Tuesday incident occurred aboard the plane that crashed.

John Hodock, another passenger on the Tuesday flight, said in an e-mail to CNN: "About 20 minutes after take-off, the plane had a series of compressor stalls on the right engine. There were several very loud bangs and fire coming out of the engine. The pilot at first told us that we were going to make an emergency landing, but after about five minutes, continued the flight to Charlotte."

In an interview, Hodock said the pilot "got on the intercom and said they were going to have to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport. But then, only five to 10 minutes later, the pilot came back on and said it was a stalled compressor and they were going to continue to Charlotte."

A third passenger, who did not want her named used, also said she heard a "loud banging sound" on the right side of the plane. She said she heard the pilot say the "compressor for the engine was stalled" and they needed "to turn around and go back." However, she said, the problem was fixed and the flight continued without incident.

Pilots and aviation officials said that a compressor stall results from insufficient air getting into the engine and that multiple stalls could result in engine damage. However, the officials said, a momentary compressor stall may be less serious and could be corrected in flight by simply restarting the engine.

A bird strike could lead to a compressor stall, the officials said.

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Investigators have discovered the cause of the crash:

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(Disclaimer: Not my picture and I cannot find out who did it)