2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less than two minutes after take-off. This becomes known as "The Miracle on the Hudson" as all 155 people on board were rescued. US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States, that ditched into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff on January 15, 2009 due to a double engine failure caused by a bird strike. The Airbus A320 operating the flight, registered N106US, struck a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, resulting in a dual engine failure. Given their position in relation to the available airports and their low altitude, pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles decided to glide the aircraft into a water landing on the Hudson River near Midtown Manhattan, doing so without significant damage to the aircraft. All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats. There were no fatalities, although 100 people were injured, 5 of them seriously. The time from the bird strike to the ditching was less than four minutes. The then-Governor of New York State, David Paterson, called the incident a "Miracle on the Hudson" and a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) official described it as "the most successful ditching in aviation history." The pilot in command was 57-year-old Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a native of Denison, Texas and a former fighter pilot who had been an airline pilot since leaving the United States Air Force in 1980. At the time, he had logged 19,663 total flight hours, including 4,765 in an A320; he was also a glider pilot and expert on aviation safety.
