The plane took off from LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 pm. It was going to fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then it would fly onwards to Seattle, Washington state. Two minutes after the plane left the ground, it flew into a flock of Canada geese. Some of the geese were sucked into the plane's two engines. Both engines stopped working. The pilots, Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles, realized that they needed to land the plane as soon as possible. They thought about heading back to LaGuardia Airport or trying to land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. They decided that they could not land at an airport and instead they would have to land the plane in the river. This was also dangerous for two reasons. Firstly, the plane would break apart if it hit the water too quickly or if it hit something else. Secondly, the passengers would drown if they were not rescued quickly, as it would be hard to swim in the cold river.