Hudson river crash probe to last a year

THE investigation of the emergency crash landing of a US Airways jetliner will last a year and the lessons will go on for decades.

That’s the word from Robert Benzon, the National Transportation Safety Board’s chief investigator on the crash.

He spoke yesterday as teams of investigators began the lengthy process of analysing the damage to each part of the aircraft.

Benzon said the fact that every life was saved in the crash has made the investigation the most pleasant he has worked on. He also said this investigation lacked the fingerpointing and guilt that sometimes accompanies plane crash investigations.

Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed the plane in the frigid waters of the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after birds apparently shut down the engines shortly after takeoff. All 155 people aboard survived.

The “black box” recorders recovered from the US Airways jetliner that splashed down in the Hudson River captured thumping sounds, the sudden loss of engine power and the pilot’s calm “Mayday” call, evidence that seems to back up the crew’s account of hitting a flock of birds shortly after takeoff.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an account of its interview with Sullenberger, and dispatches from the cockpit voice recorder emerged over the weekend.

The dispatches on the voice recorder were described as “a very calm, collected exercise”, Benzon said on Sunday.

Sullenberger reported that the plane had hit birds and lost both engines shortly after investigators heard “the sound of thumps and a rapid decrease in engine sounds,” said safety board member Kitty Higgins said.

Sullenberger then discussed airport landing sites before deciding to attempt a river landing, she said.

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