US Air Salvage On The Hudson

Salvage Teams Raise US Airways Jet From Hudson River NEW YORK (AFP)--Salvage teams have lifted the sunken Airbus jet that crashed into New York's Hudson River apparently after hitting a flock of birds following take-off. The operation to lift the US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) plane was hampered by swirling river currents and icy waters, but finally was completed during the night of Saturday to Sunday. Lifting straps from a huge crane were placed around the submerged plane, which was moored to a Manhattan dock soon after ditching in the Hudson on Thursday. Because the fuselage was flooded the lifting was conducted slowly, allowing water to drain. All 150 passengers and five crew escaped alive from the plane, which ditched when both engines halted, apparently after birds, possibly geese, were sucked into the turbines minutes into the flight from LaGuardia Airport. Investigators needed to get into the plane to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - both critical to determining the cause of the accident. Both recorders remained on the aircraft. Search crews also thought they had found the Airbus' left engine, which was torn off in the crash and will be another important piece of evidence, federal investigators said. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger, whose skillful splash-landing was credited with saving all 155 people aboard, testified that a collision with birds certainly caused the disaster. With both engines out, the captain decided that the only place he could land without endangering people on the ground was the Hudson River. US Air Salvage On The Hudson