The US Airways Airbus A320 jetliner which crashed into the Hudson River awaits transportation to New Jersey for further inspection in New York January 18, 2009. REUTERS/Patrick Andrade
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Airways passenger jet that made a spectacular landing on New York’s Hudson River a year ago is for sale.
All 155 passengers and crew aboard Flight 1549 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, escaped after pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger glided the crippled plane to a textbook emergency landing on the icy river within view of Manhattan skyscrapers.
The severely damaged Airbus A320 is being sold online by Chartis insurance firm, minus its engines which were knocked out when the plane flew into a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from La Guardia airport on January 15 last year.
New York Governor David Paterson at the time described the landing as the “miracle on the Hudson.” The online auction description was less emotional: “Aircraft suffered severe bird strike event resulting in water emergency landing.”
The plane is kept in Kearny, New Jersey and the online auction at www.aigaviation.com closes on March 27. No sale price estimates were given for the damaged plane.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Storey
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