Published: Sat, 17 Jan 2009
Description: (NECN) - NTSB member Kitty Higgins provided a dramatic account of the US Airways Flight 1549 that crash landed in the Hudson River, with the pilot telling controllers just moments after takeoff that, "We're gonna be in the Hudson." ...
Automatically Generated Transcript (may not be 100% accurate)
" And what I'm gonna give you is essentially that's the sequence of events as they reported it to us and obviously this will have to be verified. Through the interviews and through. Our our other sources. At 152454. The tower controller. Cleared 159 before. Quick take off for one make sure. With the left heading 316 left turn -- 360. About one minute later. That tower controller. Instructed the crew. To contact. The New York terminal radar departure controller. At 152551. The pilot contacted the departure controller. And advised. They were at 700 feet and climbing to 5008. The controller instructed the crude climbed to 15000 feet the crew acknowledged. At 152732. The controller instructed the flight to turn left to heading to seventy. That pilot responded. This is -- 1549. Hit birds we laughed thrust in both engines. We're turning -- returning back towards LaGuardia. -- This is -- this 1549. Hit very relaxed rested both engines. Returning back towards LaGuardia. The controller acknowledged. And instructed the light turn left heading to twenty. The crew acknowledged. Radar data from Newark and Kennedy sites indicate at 15271. About ninety seconds after departure. Aircraft path intersected a string of primary targets. When the airplane was between 29002. -- 900 at 3000 feet. The primary targets. We're not depicted on the departure controller's radar screen. At 152749. The controller advised LaGuardia tower. To stop departures. Because of it. An emergency airplane is returning to the airport. That's how are wary of which why it was returning and the controller advised. It's fifteen. 49. Bird strike you lost all engines. He lost that thrust in the engine is returning immediately. At 15285. The controller asked if the pilot wanted to land at LaGuardia. Runway thirteen. And that pilot responded. Work I'm able. We may end up in the Hudson. There was some discussion. About whether the flight that landed to Peterborough airport. -- playing airplanes right side about six miles. And the pilot responded. We can't do it. When asked which runway the pilot would like to land on the pilot responded. -- going to be in the Hudson. And that is the last communique from the -- The radar data show that the aircraft touched down in the Hudson river at approximately 153030. Radar and tower personnel immediately notify the US Coast Guard NYPD. And various other search and rescue operations. The Coast Guard replied we -- the -- And to put this in perspective. This time from takeoff to impact with the water. Was approximately. Five minutes."