Takeoff and bird strike The flight was cleared for takeoff to the northeast from LaGuardia's Runway 4 at 15:24:56
Eastern Standard Time (20:24:56
UTC). With Skiles in control, the crew made its first report after becoming airborne at 15:25:51 as being at and climbing. The weather at 14:51 was visibility with
broken clouds at , wind from 290°; an hour later it was
few clouds at , wind from 310°. in the diagonal center and
New Jersey in the distance. The
George Washington Bridge is at right,
Central Park Reservoir at upper left, and
Teterboro Airport at the right center within the elbow of the
Overpeck Creek. At 15:27:11, during
climbout, the plane struck a flock of
Canada geese at an altitude of about north-northwest of LaGuardia. The pilots' view was filled with the large birds; passengers and crew heard very loud bangs and saw flames from the engines, followed by silence and an odor of
fuel. Realizing that both engines had shut down, Sullenberger took control while Skiles worked the checklist for engine restart. "... this is Cactus fifteen thirty nine [
siccorrect call sign was Cactus 1549], hit birds. We've lost thrust on both engines. We're turning back towards LaGuardia". told LaGuardia's
tower to hold all departures, and directed Sullenberger back to Runway 13. Sullenberger responded, "Unable". Permission was given for Teterboro's Runway 1, and the flight attendants relayed the command to passengers. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers asked the
Coast Guard to caution vessels in the Hudson and ask them to prepare to help with the rescue.
Ditching and evacuation About ninety seconds later, at 15:30, the plane made an
unpowered ditching, descending southwards at about into the middle of the
North River section of the Hudson tidal
estuary, at on the
New York side of the state line, roughly opposite West 50th Street (near the
Intrepid Museum) in
Midtown Manhattan and
Port Imperial in
Weehawken, New Jersey. According to FDR data, the plane impacted the river at a
calibrated airspeed of with a 9.5° pitch angle,
flight path angle of −3.4°,
angle of attack between 13° and 14°, and a descent rate of . Sullenberger opened the cockpit door and gave the order to evacuate. The crew began evacuating the passengers through the four
overwing window exits and into an inflatable
slide raft deployed from the front right passenger door (the front left slide failed to operate, so the manual inflation handle was pulled). The evacuation was made more difficult by the fact that someone opened the rear left door, allowing more water to enter the plane; whether this was a flight attendant or a passenger is disputed. Water was also entering through a hole in the fuselage and through cargo doors that had come open, so as the water rose the attendant urged passengers to move forward by climbing over seats. One passenger was a wheelchair user. Finally, Sullenberger walked the cabin twice to confirm it was empty. The air and water temperatures were about and , respectively.
Rescue File:Flight1549CrashAndRescue.ogg |thumbtime=0:50 |
Coast Guard video of the water landing, and rescue File:Plane and ferry in the Hudson 2.jpg| First NY Waterway ferry arrives at the crash site File:US Air Flight 1549 rescue efforts.jpg| Rescue efforts and the Coast Guard, as well as Flight 1549 halfway sinking File:US Airways Flight 1549 in Hudson cropped.JPG | Boats surround the tail of the sunken plane, visible just above the water line Two
NY Waterway ferries arrived within minutes and began taking people aboard using a
Jason's cradle; Sullenberger advised the ferry crews to rescue those on the wings first, as they were in more jeopardy than those on the slides, which detached to become
life rafts. as did police, helicopters, and various vessels and divers. Other agencies provided medical help on the
Weehawken side of the river, where most passengers were taken. == Aftermath ==