Three years ago, Flight 1549 left New York for Charlotte, North Carolina.
Now, at last, the plane will reach its destination.
The CFM56-5B engines from US Airways Flight 1549 – which made an emergency landing in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009 after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Charlotte – will be leaving Hangar 6 at the Highland County Airport en route to a North Carolina aviation museum.
Hangar 6 owner George Matthews told The Highland County Press the engines were transported to Hangar 6 for storage through an arrangement with the insurance company, Chartis, Inc.
“We were hired by AIG (Chartis) to store the engines,” Matthews said.
According to Matthews, the engines will be transported to the Carolinas Aviation Museum on the grounds of Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C.
Until now, Matthews said, Hangar 6 was prohibited through its agreement with AIG and Chartis from discussing the engines’ location.
Hangar 6 (www.hangar6inc.com) is an FAA Certified Domestic Airframe and Power Plant Repair Station located along North Shore Drive near the Rocky Fork Lake State Park.
Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force, safely landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, after the aircraft’s two CFM International turbofans were knocked out by a large flock of birds.
All 150 passengers and five crew members survived the emergency landing. There were only five injuries reported.
“(Capt. Sullenberger) is one of a kind to make that landing,” Matthews said. “They don’t make very many pilots like him.”
In addition to Sullenberger, the Flight 1549 crew included: first officer Jeffrey B. Skiles, and flight attendants Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail. The entire crew of Flight 1549 was awarded the Master’s Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.
Rescue efforts for the flight’s passengers and crew were made by the U.S. Coast Guard, FDNY (Fire Department New York), NYPD (New York Police Department) and local ferryboats.
The New York Waterway ferryboat “Thomas Jefferson,” commanded by Captain Vincent Lombardi, was first on the scene, arriving at the side of the plane just four minutes after the ditching.
As reported by The Highland County Press during the May 2010 Hillsboro High School commencement, Hillsboro native Dave Sanderson was the 155th passenger off the flight.
Sanderson shared his experience with the HHS class of 2010.
“From the time the plane took off from LaGuardia until it crashed in the Hudson, and by the time I got to the hosiptal, was about 30 minutes,” Sanderson said.
Though he was not originally scheduled to be on Flight 1549, Sanderson said, “I truly believe I was meant to be on that flight. (When the plane started to go down), all we heard was the voice of a lady in the back saying The Lord’s Prayer.”
Sanderson shares his experience through the Red Cross and its outreach services, and says he has benefited from reconnecting with many people because of the near tragedy.
According to a Feb. 4, 2009 report by CNN, “The National Transportation Safety Board said that both engines of the US Airways flight contained bird remains. The engines from US Airways Flight 1549 were sent to the manufacturer in Cincinnati, where the NTSB directed the analysis.”
“The plane’s flight data recorder revealed no anomalies or malfunctions in either engine up to the point where the captain reported a bird strike, after which there was a loss of thrust in both engines,” the National Transportation Safety Board said.
On Jan. 3, 2011, it was reported in the New York Post that the Carolinas Aviation Museum had acquired the airframe from Chartis Insurance. The airframe was transported by road from its storage location in Kearny, N.J. to the museum’s display facility at Charlotte/Douglas International.
It took seven days to transport the airframe, which is now on display. Plans are for the plane to be reassembled in the same configuration as it was when it was pulled out of the Hudson River in January 2009.
According to the museum’s website (www.carolinasaviation.org), “The airframe will be conserved, as opposed to restored. The dents from the birds and tugboat are no less historic than the charred and blackened streaks on the Apollo 13 command module. In addition to the airframe, Captain Sullenberger has contributed his uniform to the Museum’s 1549 exhibit.”
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The museum, in conjunction with the North Carolina School of the Arts Film School, is producing a movie about the project to save, move, re-assemble, and display the aircraft.
An industry report at www.aero-news.net quoted the museum’s president, Shawn Dorsch, as saying: “Flight 1549 is an internationally recognized aviation icon which represents the highest reaches of human heroics and technological advancement, and is of inestimable historical value to the world. Never before has an insurance company preserved an aircraft like this and I think Chartis and their partners should be commended for the foresight they have shown with their visionary contribution to future aviation safety.”
Mark Meyeroff, president of Chartis Aerospace Insurance Services, Inc., said, “Following the second anniversary of the miracle landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson, Chartis and US Airways are pleased to recognize this remarkable rescue effort and achievement in airline safety.
“Along with our insurance partners, we are delighted to assist in providing this historic aircraft to the Carolinas Aviation Museum so that future generations of air safety experts and aviation enthusiasts can learn from this important chapter in aviation history.”
After taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Flight 1549 was scheduled for a stopover at the Charlotte/Douglas Inter-national Airport in North Carolina before heading to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in Washington.
