Airliner's engines lost power together

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-19 11:50

NEW YORK _ A jetliner that crash landed in the Hudson River lost power simultaneously in both engines after reaching an altitude of only 3,200 feet (975 meters), the plane's black box recorders revealed Sunday.

A worker looks into the damaged right engine of the US Airways Airbus A320 that made an emergency landing Thursday in the Hudson River as the plane sits on a barge after being lifted out of the river in New York, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. [Agencies]

The details that emerged confirmed the harrowing circumstances under which the pilot of the US Airways flight carrying 155 people maneuvered the plane over New York City and safely into the water after striking a flock of birds Thursday.

"The captain makes radio call to ATC (air traffic control) calling 'mayday' and reports that they hit birds, lost both engines and were returning to LaGuardia" Airport, said Kitty Higgins, National Transportation Safety Board member, releasing cockpit transmissions captured on flight data and voice recorders.

"Mayday" is an international distress call.

During the day on Sunday, the hulking wreckage of the plane rested on a barge moored to a seawall in lower Manhattan, a few blocks from the World Trade Center site, where crews were removing its fuel. The Airbus A320 took off with 21,791 pounds (9,880 kilograms) of fuel en route to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sunday night, tugboats began hauling the barge with the jet wreckage in heavy snowfall to New Jersey, where investigators planned to inspect the damage more closely.

Investigators already have seen significant damage to the tail and to compartments at the bottom of the plane that opened upon impact, Higgins said.

The search for the plane's missing left engine is suspended until Tuesday because ice floes in the river make it too dangerous to put divers or special sonar equipment in the water, Higgins said.

Higgins heaped praised the flight crew, led by US Airways Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, who spoke to NTSB investigators Saturday.

"Miracles happen because a lot of everyday things happen for years and years and years," she said. "These people knew what they were supposed to do. And they did it and as a result, nobody lost their life."

Sullenberger had been scheduled to give his first public interview on Monday morning to NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer, but the appearance was canceled Sunday at the request of the US Airline Pilots Association.

Stephen Bradford, president of the association, said he asked Sullenberger not to engage in any media activities because the pilots association has "interested party" status with the NTSB, which allows it to participate in the investigation.

Sullenberger released a statement saying it was deferring to the advice of the pilots association.

"The Sullenbergers continue to thank their many well-wishers for the incredible outpouring of support," the statement said.

The mayor of Danville, California, where Sullenberger lives, said the pilot and his family were going to the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.

Although the area where the barge was moored was closed to the public, it attracted hundreds of residents and tourists who snapped pictures of the wreckage.

Kelsey Higginbotham, a 20-year-old student at East Tennessee State University, peered at the crippled aircraft Sunday from behind police barricades.

She and a friend had been to Times Square, Central Park and the site of the World Trade Center, where nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. She said she was struck by the contrast between one disaster where so many people died and another where everyone survived.

"It's a miracle," she said. "I guess New Yorkers can't take any more tragedy."