I’ve made an animated gif of the US Airways Flight 1549 flight track from when it took off from New York City’s La Guardia Airport until it landed in the Hudson River. I was able to follow the aircraft using Passur’s AirportMonitor website and taking screen shots. Notice that in the middle of it, another aircraft was flying northwards up the Hudson River and, at very close point, the vertical separation was just 500 feet with the other aircraft turning hard over Manhattan.

 

You can see this animated gif HERE. (Note: This is a large file)

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Here is an image of the area where US Airways Flt 1549 went down. It landed somewhere in the middle of the river just a hair south of where the Hoboken label is. It has since floated to near the Battery Park Pier shown in the lower right of the image.

 

CLICK HERE FOR IMAGE.

 

 

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Update:  The Dallas Morning News Airline Biz Blog has THIS post about the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549.  He’s Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and I suspect he will be cheered by many for his cool head while landing the aircraft and his conscientious handling of passengers.

 

Update: Here is another photo from CNN’s I-Report showing passengers on both wings evacuating the aircraft.

 

Update:  The aircraft is still floating and now approaching Battery Park.  HEREis a photograph shown on CNN’s i-Report.

 

Update:  After speaking with my brother, I’ve learned that this aircraft landed in the water of the Hudson River between Hoboken and Manhatttan.   He is a resident of Hoboken.

 

Update:  This certainly will change my mind about the real possibilities of surviving an aircraft ditching into water. 

 

Update:  According to Today in the Sky, ABC has reported that the pilot may have been attempting to fly and land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

 

Update:  Bloomberg News is reporting that pilots reported the loss or partial loss of both engines on the aircraft.  Flying into a flock of geese would certainly be a reasonable explanation for that.

 

Update:  For information on bird strikes, The Fort Worth Star Telegram Sky Talk Blog has THIS post.

 

Update:  Flightblogger, Jon Ostrower, has THIS image of the flight’s track through New York and along the Hudson River.

 

Update:  Courtesy of the Dallas Morning news, very good photos of this accident can be found HERE and HERE.

 

Update: A very striking photo of passengers evacuating the aircraft and getting into rafts and standing on the wing.

 

Update:  Flightaware.Com has this URL for the flight showing it to be, in fact, an A320 and having a flight duration of 6 minutes.

 

Update: There are now credible reports that the airplane’s captain reported a bird strike and subsequent engine failure to air traffic control. All passengers have survived. Remarkably, the aircraft remained afloat and passengers were able to exit in an orderly manner.

CNN is now reporting that US Airways Flight 1549, a flight from NYC (La Guardia) to Charlotte, North Carolina, went down in the Hudson River after just taking off.  There is a report that a flock of geese may have been the cause of the crash. 

 

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Runway Girl has THIS STORY on some newly available flight tracking websites for the hard core traveler. 

 

For those of you who prefer to use your Blackberry or iPhone or Treo or other PDA-type mobile phone, there is a new service you can use to track your flight online.

 

http://mobile.flightview.com/

 

And there is another new service being offered that will permit you to track both your flight and the flights just before it that are using the same aircracft.  The advantage?  You can see how weather or other system delays are affecting your flight long before anyone begins updating the status for you flight.   The downside?  They charge for their service.  $8 per month or $88 per year or you can buy “packs” of flight tracking (10 flight tracks for $15 or 50 flight tracks for $75).  This is for the serious road warrior who is traveling from or through highly congested hubs.  Here is their website:

 

http://fltadvisor.com/fltadvisor/home.jsf

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