15th anniversary of the “Miracle on the Hudson”
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Monday marks the 15th anniversary of the "Miracle on the Hudson" plane crash in New York.
U.S Airways Flight 1549 left New York City's LaGuardia Airport headed to Charlotte, North Carolina when the Airbus A320 struck a flock of Canadian geese shortly after takeoff. The bird strike caused the plane to lose power in both engines.
Unable to reach any nearby airport, pilots Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane into the Hudson River just off the shore of Midtown Manhattan.
All 155 people on board survived the landing and were rescued by nearby boats and emergency personnel. 100 people were injured, five of them seriously, but no one died.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) described the landing as "the most successful ditching in aviation history."
The damaged fuselage of Flight 1549 now resides in a museum in Charlotte.
