Small plane down in river off New York NEW YORK (Reuters) - A small plane carrying more than a dozen people splashed down in the frigid waters of the Hudson River off Manhattan on Thursday and survivors were seen standing on the wings awaiting rescue, Reuters witnesses said. It was not clear what caused the plane to go down. It was floating on the surface of the fast-moving river and ferries were seen approaching to rescue passengers.
CNBC is reporting that it may have hit a flock of geese that took out both of it's engines and the pilot chose to do a controlled landing in the water.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_us/plane_in_river NEW YORK – A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, sending passengers fleeing for safety in the frigid waters. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says the US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport enroute to Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday when the crash occured. Brown says the plane, an Airbus 320, may have been hit by birds. New York City firefighters are responding to the crash. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries. Witness Barbara Sambriski, a researcher at The Associated Press, said, "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water."
Yeah, an Airbus A320 is a pretty good sized plane, not a tiny commuter jet or anything. Usually used for domestic flights.
Hopefully there's no fatalities. My dad works for US Airways so this certainly isn't good news. The airline took a monster hit after Flight 427 that went down in my backyard in 1994 and of course the obvious 9-11 effect.
