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Quote, originally posted by WCBS TV »US Airways Plane Crashes Into Hudson RiverPlane Lands Upright In Water Near USS IntrepidBird Strike Said To Have Caused Both Engines To MalfunctionWitness: 'It Wasn't Wobbling, There Was No Smoke' A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River.NEW YORK (CBS) ― A U.S. Airways airplane has crashed into the Hudson River, CBS 2 has learned. The plane appears to be in one piece and passengers are being evaucated by rescue teams.Officials tell CBS 2 the airplane is Flight 1549, an Airbus a320 that took off from La Guardia Aiport and headed to Charlotte, N.C. There are reports that there were about 60 people on board. The plane seats about 120 passengers. It went down around 3:30 p.m.Passengers could be seen standing on the wing of the plane and entering a rescue boat."It was just going down further and further and further and then all of a sudden it was gone," a witness named Peter told CBS 2. "I'm shaking, it was crazy. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was nothing wrong with the plane, it wasn't wobbling, there was no smoke coming out of it!"There are reports that a bird strike may have caused the plane to go down, meaning a bird may have entered the engine, causing a malfunction. The bird strike apparently disabled both engines.City officials have called a massive casualty emergency, though it's not yet known if there are any deaths.There is no word on injuries to passengers.The plane is floating upright in the water near the USS Intrepid. Temperatures at the time of the crash in the city were just about 20 degrees, with the water temperature likely much colder.According to Dr. Max Gomez, a person in 40 degree water will likely lose consciousness after 30 minutes.Stay with wcbstv.com and CBS 2 for more on this developing story.(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)Source: http://wcbstv.com/breakingnews....htmlUPDATE: On TV they are now saying the plane was airborne for less than 6 minutes, maximum altitude achieved was only 3200 ft before beginning the emergency descent...

they are thinking that it was birds that brought it down.

Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »they are thinking that it was birds that brought it down.That's what I just heard, too. Hopefully, everyone got out safe and there were no deaths and minimal injuries.

It looks like this happened shortly after I left work today. I work in emergency management for NY. I logged in when I got home to get some details. I can confirm that everyone got off the plane safely. There are no serious injuries. I give the pilot a lot of credit for steering it to the water. This could have been very ugly. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if the plane crashed into midtown.

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »That's what I just heard, too. Hopefully, everyone got out safe and there were no deaths and minimal injuries.I hope everyone is safe, too. I also hope this isn't due to some safety shenanigans with the FAA inspectors, like what Southwest did, or some bad foreign plane service. Quote »The bird strike apparently disabled both enginesuhm.....that's some bird - or more likely, several. Multiple bird strikes are kind of rare

They just said everyone was out of the plane in about 2 minutes...when the first boats got there, people were standing on the wings.

It does look like they hit big flock of birds. Crazy!Quote, originally posted by Kari »They just said everyone was out of the plane in about 2 minutes...when the first boats got there, people were standing on the wings.All I have to say is "brrrrrrr!" and great news!

NY Governor David Paterson is calling it "miracle on the hudson river." I agree, and I can only hope next time I fly those two pilots are at the helm of my aircraft!

They did an awesome job at landing that plane -- no engines, yet maintained a controlled landing. It's amazing how they did it. I noticed in one article they said the FBI and TSA ruled out terrorism... (removed), terrorist geese? *rolls eyes*It's going to be interesting to see how exactly they're going to get the plane out of the river. And also quite concerning is thinking about the amount of jet fuel that's probably leaking into the river right now.

Here are some pictures of the incident...first two were witnesses who submitted them to NBCNewYork.com, the others are from AP or other professional sources:submitted to NBCNewYork.com by Janis Krums of Sarasota, FL:submitted to NBCNewYork.com by an anonymous witness:Associated Press Photo:Associated Press Photo:AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews:Associated Press Photo:Associated Press Photo:Getty Images:Associated Press Photo:Associated Press Photo:

What an amazing story. I couldn't tell if the passengers were actually wearing the seats as life preservers. I usually roll my eyes when they say that before take off, but here's a clear case where everyone survived a water landing. I Guess seats as life preservers is not such a strange idea for water landings.