ome 150 people aboard a US Airways plane en route from to Charlotte, N.C., from New York City were rescued in a lightning fast effort following the jet's crash into the frigid waters of the Hudson River off the West Side of Manhattan today.
This video frame grab image taken from WNBC-TV shows a US Airways aircraft that has gone down in the Hudson River in New York, Thursday Jan. 15, 200i8. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries
(WNBC-TV/AP Photo)
All passengers and crew aboard were reported safe after New York City firefighters and ferries rushed to the aid of the US Airways jet, which floated near in the river near the historic aircraft carrier The Intrepid.
US Airways flight 1549, an A-320 manufactured by Airbus en route from New York to Charlotte, N.C., was carrying as many as 146 passengers and five crew members, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The plane took off and 3:26 p.m. ET, and 30 seconds after takeoff the pilot reported two bird strikes and said he wanted to return to LaGuardia Airport.
Controllers began giving him directions tor return, but the pilot requested to land at the nearby Teterboro airport over New Jersey. The tower reportedly lost contact soon after that last transmission.
Commuter boats in the area were seen fishing people from the frigid waters and rescuing passengers standing on the plane's wings after the crash.
ABC News' Robin Roberts, who saw the plane crash from her apartment window, said it appeared to be a controlled landing
"It completely just hit the water full force, never bounced or anything like that, and came to a relatively quick stop," Roberts said. "But it didn't skim along the water. There was very little trauma to the aircraft. It was I'm still can't believe what I saw."
The water temperature in the river was reported at 42 degrees, just above freezing.
John Ostrom of the Metropolitan Airports Commission out of Minneapolis chairs the Bird Strikes Committee, which advises the aviation industry on wildlife management to eliminate possible hazards.
"There's a variety of ways a bird can take down a plane," he told ABC News today. "There have been instances where birds the size of robins bring a plane down, all the way up to Canada geese."