Pilot ditches plane in Hudson River; all on board rescued

NEW YORK - A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after a collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines, but officials said rescuers safely pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.
Gov. David Paterson pronounced it "a miracle on the Hudson."
Flight 1549 went down minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., splashing into the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan - one of the busiest and most closely watched stretches of the river.
"There were eyewitness reports the plane may have flown into a flock of birds," said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown. "Right now we don't have any indication this was anything other than an accident."
Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., 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.
"The captain said, 'Brace for impact because we're going down,"' Kolodjay said. 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.
"It was intense. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot," Kolodjay said.
Rescuers in police and coast guard vessels and ferry boats rapidly converged on the plane and pulled passengers in life vests from the aircraft, which was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows, its fuselage still apparently intact. The plane went down on one of the coldest days of the year, with air temperature around -7 C and the water 5 C.
Police divers rescued a few people from the water, Bloomberg said. 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.
Fire officials said at least half the people on board were sent to hospitals with hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries. Paramedic Helen Rodriguez said the worst injury she saw was a woman with two broken legs.
There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an experienced pilot, said it appeared the pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure everybody got out."
Witnesses said the 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."
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.
The pilot reported a "double bird strike" less than a minute after taking off, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union.
The controller sent the aircraft back toward LaGuardia, but the pilot saw an airport below him and asked what it was, Church said.
It was Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and the pilot asked to land there, Church said.