Overview | Read complete coverage from The Times, including more eyewitness accounts compiled on City Room.

9:30 p.m. | The New York Police Department just sent out this notice: “Members of the public who find luggage or other property they believe to be related to US Airways Flight 1549 are asked to call 311 to be connected to appropriate police personnel. Callers from outside of the five boroughs of New York City are asked to call (212) NEW-YORK.”

8:45 p.m. | Update on the passengers: Most have been released from local hospitals after examination or treatment. A spokeswoman for the Bank of America, Kelly Sapp, said 23 of the bank’s employees were on board the plane. The company’s headquarters are in North Carolina. The employees, who were not returning for any particular meeting, were all accounted for and safe.

8:15 p.m. | Update on the plane: As of early this evening, the plane was tied along the promenade south of Chamber Street and north of Battery Park City, near Warren Street, according to one official.

7:50 p.m. | The pilot: He is Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, III, from Danville, California. Mr. Sullenberger is 57 and has been flying with US Airways since 1980. Mr. Sullenberger runs a company called Safety Reliability Methods, a risk management and leadership consultantcy.

Mr. Sullenberger’s wife, Lorrie, runs a lifestyle fitness company.

The pilot was praised by public officials, passengers and eyewitnesses for the way he handled the plane. The New Jersey Nets wasted no time jumping on board, too. They invited the pilots to the Nets-Boston Celtics game this Saturday, where the team wants to honor them as the “Heroes of the Game.”

7:20 p.m. | More news on the pilot: Though officials have not released his name, the pilot is now at the New York Waterways terminal talking to federal investigators. He is described as a male white, 5-11 to 6 foot, reed thin, with a white mustache, close cropped white hair and a tan complexion. He is wearing a captain’s suit.

One city official said that most of the people went from the fuselage onto the wing and to the boats. Some of the passengers are in the terminal’s waiting area, where people usually buy tickets. The American Red Cross had people wrapped in blankets and was giving them food, coffee and water. They were being interviewed.

Dealbook is reporting that executives from Bank of America (which has its headquarters in Charlotte) and Wells Fargo were on board.

6:40 p.m. | Clarifying some details, US Airways issued another statement about Flight 1549. The airline said that there were 150 passengers and five crew (two pilots and three flight attendants) on board. The flight was scheduled to leave at 2:45 p.m., but ended up departing at 3:03 p.m.

According to an air traffic controller, the pilot reported that he had suffered a “double bird strike,” and that he had a small airport in sight, and asked what it was. The controller, at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, a low-altitude radar center on Long Island, replied that it was Teterboro, and tried to direct the pilot back to LaGuardia.

A bird strike would be consistent with the airplane’s path through the sky; radar records indicate that the plane reached an altitude of at least 3,200 feet before it began to descend. Planes can
crash on departure because of icing, but planes with that problem do not climb that high.

The A320 would normally climb out of LaGuardia with the nose pointed high in the air, limiting forward visibility and would have been moving at close to 200 miles an hour, at which speed a pilot would have little time to recognize a flock of birds and take evasive action, aviation experts said.

6:20 p.m. | The news conference has concluded. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said most of the passengers did not even touch the frigid Hudson. “There were a few that I talked to that went into the water,” he said. “Most I gather either stepped directly form the plane onto a boat, or onto the wings and then onto a boat, so most were not soaking wet.”

He said there was no indication of terrorism or sabotage, but that the details of what caused the accident would have to await the lengthy investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“There’s never anything that’s done quickly when they investigate plane incidents, and that’s something that should give you pleasure,” he said. “It does not seem to be anything other than an accident or something natural.” He added: “The speculation about birds or something else is something we’ll leave to the National Transportation Safety Board.”

“If it was going to have to happen,” the mayor concluded, “this outcome is as good as you could ever hope and pray for.” He said he would not be afraid to have his daughters flying in airplanes tonight.

Mr. Bloomberg noted that the plane did not quickly fill with water, as the pilot was able to walk up and back the aisle, checking for passengers left behind. Two police officers also boarded and searched for passengers, and by that time some water had entered the plane. By 5:45 p.m., Mr. Bloomberg said, the plane remained intact and afloat, near Battery Park.

As for the pilot’s account, that, too, would have to wait. “He did not talk about what he did other than to help us ascertain that everybody got off,” the mayor said.

6:12 p.m. | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. David A. Paterson called a news conference at the New York Waterway Ferry Terminal on the Hudson at West 40th Street. Mayor Bloomberg said that it appeared that all 155 passengers and crew, including an infant, had survived the crash, with few injuries, and that the pilot had done “a masterful job.”

“We are trying to verify every single person that was on that boat and make sure that they are accounted for but there is no reason to believe at the moment that this wasn’t something that we should thank God for that everyone got out safely,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Gov. David A. Paterson, speaking at the same news conference, called it nothing short of a miracle.

“We’ve had a miracle on 34th Street, I believe now we’ve had a miracle on the Hudson,” Mr. Paterson said. “This pilot, somehow, without any engines, was somehow able to land this plane, and perhaps without any injuries to the passengers.”

“This is a potential tragedy that may have become one of the most magnificent days in the history of New York City agencies,” Mr. Paterson added.

The mayor and the governor said they had spoken to several of the survivors, including the pilot.

“He walked the plane twice after everybody else got off,” Mayor Bloomberg said of the pilot, whom he did not name.

Governor Paterson said he spoke with a retired police officer from Charlotte, N.C., who was on the plane, and the officer said that “he’d participated in these types of rescues and he’d never seen anything this magnificent.”

Another told Mr. Paterson that his brother was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “He is no stranger to tragedy,” Mr. Paterson said, “but he’s a very blessed person today.”

The mayor said that a few people were taken to hospitals in both New Jersey and New York, including some who asked to go, and that they were in stable condition although details of the injuries remain unclear.

Mr. Bloomberg said he had spoken to the mayor of Charlotte and offered to buy him a drink. “I pointed out this is not normally the way people arrive in New York City,” he said. “But as long as everybody got out safely i think everything else is secondary.”

As for the rescue, he said the Fire Department, Police Department and Port Authority police had worked in coordination, as they train to do, with air support from the state. “Everything did seem to work as well as you would hope it would work,” the mayor said.

5:50 p.m. | The following is the statement made by Doug Parker, chairman and chief executive of U.S. Airways, about the plane crash in the Hudson River, as transcribed by The Times. Mr. Parker was speaking at the company’s headquarters in Phoenix.

I can confirm U.S. Airways Flight 1549 was involved in an accident. The Airbus A320 was en route to Charlotte from La Guardia. It had 150 passengers on board. The flight was operated with a crew of two pilots and three flight attendants. U.S. Airways is confirming passenger and crew names and will issue those as soon as possible. At this point no additional details can be confirmed. Our preliminary report is that everyone is off the plane and accounted for.

We’ve activated our U.S. Airways care team of specially trained employee volunteers to assist those affected by this accident. Individuals who believe they may have family members on board Flight 1549 may call U.S. Airways at 1-800-679-8215 within the United States. The number can be reached toll free from international locations through AT&T’s U.S.A. Direct. To contact an AT&T operator please visit www.usa.att.com/traveler for U.S.A. Direct access codes. Others are asked please not to call this number so the lines can be kept available for those who truly need them.

It’s premature to speculate about the cause of this accident. Out of respect for those affected we would ask that you also resist the temptation to speculate.

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the probable cause with our complete support and the support of many others. Further, we are working with and will continue to cooperate fully with the N.T.S.B., local, state and national authorities and answers will emerge during the course of that investigation.

Right now we’re working to care for those who have been touched by this accident. Members of our airline family will come together with these families to help however we can. I am on my way to New York shortly.

In closing, safety is, has been and forever will be our foremost priority at U.S. Airways. All of us at U.S. Airways are committed to determining the cause of this event and to assisting in every way possible in preventing a similar occurrence.

U.S. Airways will continue to release information as it becomes available. Please monitor usairways.com for the latest information.

5:48 p.m. | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other officials are expected to take questions at a news conference at Pier 81 on the Hudson at 6 p.m.

5:45 p.m. | A US Airways plane that took off Thursday at 3:26 p.m. from La Guardia Airport plunged into the Hudson River five minutes later, but all 153 people on board were rescued, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The plane itself remains nearly submerged. Ferries and other boats converged to help with a rescue effort, as the plane drifted south in the water. Initial reports from police and people at the scene are that everyone on the plane escaped.

The plane, US Airways flight 1549, took off from LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 p.m. was bound for Charlotte, N.C., and had 148 passengers and 5 crew members. The plane headed north and rose to 3,200 feet before banking west towards the Hudson River. The plane then started descending as it headed south down the Hudson River. The pilot tried to return to the airport when the plane fell into the river.

A bird or several birds entered engines on both sides of the plane, or a “double bird” in the jargon of safety workers. It is not clear when or where the plane hit the birds.

A small flotilla of boats descended on the site, including several commuter ferries as well as the Coast Guard Cutter Ridley to help rescue passengers on the plane, an Airbus A320. New York Police Department divers dove into the water to assist with the rescue as the plane floated southbound on the river, possibly due to the tidal direction.

“Someone came into my office and said a plane crashed,” said Tom Fox, general manager of New York Water Taxi, “and we ran out the door.”

Fox rode out to within several hundred yards of the plane on one of three Waterways boats that responded, but authorities indicated that additional help was not needed, apparently because most of the people had already been rescued.

At 4:52 p.m., a city official at one of the command centers, at Fire Department headquarters in Brooklyn said, “Everyone is accounted for, they are all out of the plane. They are going to New Jersey and New York, to three different piers. We don’t believe we have any fatalities.”

The official said that many patients are getting triage and medical assessment at the scene. The official said that they had been taken to area hospitals. Some people have been taken to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.

Also, about 40 or 50 people were at Weehawken, New Jersey, the official said.

Shortly before 4 p.m., a New York Waterways ferry pulled into Pier 79 at 39th Street and 12th Avenue and, led by a man wrapped only in a blanket, about 15 passengers from the airplane were escorted into the ferry terminal. No one was carrying any belongings.

“They look amazingly calm, but I bet their hearts are racing,” said Bob Grindrod, of Syracuse, who was waiting to board a ferry for New Jersey.

The divers were dropped into the water from helicopters overhead, police officials said. Some passengers were able to free themselves from the plane. They could be seen on the exterior in televised reports.

One passenger interviewed on WNBC said that the pilot told everyone on board to brace for a hard landing. Passengers started saying prayers before the plane hit the water. The passenger, who said he saw the left engine blow out, added that it was “kind of orderly” getting off the plane.

Some passengers being plucked from the frigid water were being taken to the Circle Line piers nearby at West 42nd Street. It was less than 20 degrees in New York City at the time. Fire and police rescue crews were rushing to the water.

One witness interviewed by WNBC said he saw the plane descending steadily without its landing gear down.

The plane was almost totally submerged at 4:22 p.m., as sunlight ran out. The plane was just across from the Old Marine terminal at Pier 57. All of it was submerged except for the cockpit at that point, at 4:22 p.m.

An official in a boat at the scene said, “It just looks like the very front of the aircraft. The nose; the cockpit, and the left wing. A portion of the left wing. It is just the nose and the cockpit bobbing out of the water, and the rest of it is submerged under the river. The left wing is also visible.”

“As far as we believe there is no one on board,” the official said.

New Yorkers in apartments and office towers up and down the west side of Manhattan saw the plane descend.

Fulmer Duckworth, 41, who does computer graphics for the Bank of America, was meeting with his boss on the 29th floor of the building at West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue when he saw the plane hit the water. “It made this huge, gigantic splash, and I actually thought it was a boat crash at first,” he said. “It didn’t occur to me that it was a plane in the water.”

He saw it spin counterclockwise in the water, and going with the current. When it landed, it was heading south, down the Hudson, but before it floated out of his sight it was facing east, he said.

After a co-worker found a pair of binoculars, he looked out the window and saw people standing on both of the plane’s wings, and a flotation device, a round boat, attached to the plane.

He estimated 70 or 80 people were on the wings. “Actually it looked like everybody was really calm, like on the subway platform when it’s really, really crowded, and everyone’s standing shoulder to shoulder. Everyone was standing right up against each other on the wings.”

He said the plane floated for two or three minutes before it started to sink.

Susan Obel, a retiree who lives on West 70th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, in a 20th floor apartment, saw the plane flying unusually low.

“When you see a plane somewhere that it isn’t supposed to be, you get that eerie feeling,” Ms. Odel said. “I didn’t think it was a terrorist, but I did worry. I didn’t hear anything, but then I hung up and my friend called me a few minutes later and told me to turn on the T.V.”

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has set up a family center at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near LaGuardia Airport. Air traffic officials said they have resumed flights in and out of LaGuardia.

The last fatal crash of a scheduled airliner flight in this country was in Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 27, 2006, nearly 30 months ago.

Al Baker, Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn, Tina Kelley, Jodi Rudoren and Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting.

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