US Airways Flight 1549 US Airways Flight 1549 US Airways Flight 1549 was an Airbus A320-214 which, in the climbout after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport on January 15, 2009, struck a flock of Canada geese just northeast of the George Washington Bridge and consequently lost all engine power. Unable to reach any airport, pilots Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people aboard were rescued by nearby boats and there were few serious injuries. The accident came to be known as the "Miracle on the Hudson", and a
History of the Hudson River the Hudson River. In 1965, governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed the Hudson River Expressway, a limited-access highway from the Bronx to Beacon. An 8-mile section was built from Ossining to Peekskill, now part of U.S. Route 9; the rest of the highway was never built due to local opposition. In 2004, Christopher Swain became the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River. The swim took 36 days to complete, along the entire 315 miles of the Hudson from the Adirondacks to New York City. Swain took part in the swim in order to bring attention to the