A US AIRWAYS AIRBUS 380 320 TAKING OFF from LaGuardia Airport in New York City crashed into the Hudson river at 3:26 this afternoon. The plane is upright in the water (unknown if it is floating or resting on a shallow riverbed) and does not appear to be broken apart.
WNBC
Many passenger were already out of the plane, most of them standing on the wings when rescue boats arrived. Early reports say that there were about 60 to 150 passengers aboard.
photo by Janis Krums
WNBC Ch. 4 is reporting that a pilot radioed that they had just struck a flock of geese.
WNYW Ch. 5 has live streaming video HERE. Live video is off.
Update, 4:30:
Port Authority is reporting that everybody has been taken off the plane and there are NO major injuries. (this is only a rough report)
The plane appears to be slowly sinking into the river, right wing down and left wing elevating out of the water.
Update, 4:40:
Hudson River may be as much as 50 ft. deep there. Immediately after the plane went down, two tugboats arrived and positioned on each side of the fuselage, then broke out windows and ran cables through the plane and anchored them on the boats. The tugboats have been keeping the plane afloat during the rescue operation.
Later report: Plane was enroute to Charlotte, North Carolina, with 146 passengers and 5 crew members.
Update, 5:05:
Plane was airborne for 6 minutes and had reached 3,000-ft. altitude. When engines both blew from impact, the pilot directed the plane over the Hudson River and brought it down in a controlled descent, avoiding a catastrophic crash in the city streets.
WABC-TV
Update, Friday 8:00 am:
STATter911 has a comprehensive collection of links relating to the FDNY operations in the rescue HERE along with a good timeline record (in .pdf format) HERE.
Update, Sunday:
Fresh videos showing plane landing in the river and early footage of the evacuation going on before pickup boats arrive HERE.
