A pilot has saved the lives of more than 150 people after safely guiding a plane into the freezing waters of New York’s Hudson River, moments after a flock of birds reportedly cut the jet’s engines.
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The plane was in flight for three minutes before it got into trouble, media reports say.
In what is being described as a controlled “textbook ditching”, the US Airways pilot turned around the Airbus A320 when it ran into trouble and flew it tail-down into the river just after 3.30pm.
As the plane floated in the river, 150 passengers, four crew members and the pilot on board climbed out of the emergency exits and stood on the wings and floating exit chutes.
ABC News reported that the pilot’s name was Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III.
“It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure everybody got out,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
ABC quoted the mayor as saying Mr Sullenberger “walked the plane twice to verify if anyone was on board” before getting out himself.
The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Barry Jackson, said he believed this was the first successful ditching of a commercial passenger plane ever.
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