'Miracle On The Hudson' Crash Was 16 Years Ago This Week

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Sixteen years ago this week, a historic event occurred in the United States. But it's one especially remembered right here in Hudson County.

That's because Jan. 15, 2009 was the day U.S. Airways Flight 1549 had to make an emergency crash landing into the Hudson River, after it hit a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia airport. The plane lost power in both engines.

And instead of mass deaths in the frozen river (water temperature was 30 degrees), all 143 passengers and crew on board the plane were pulled from the water, in large part to the immediate response and rescue from NY Waterway ferry boats.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the New York City Fire Department rescued an additional 12 people.

Experts have said that if these ferry crews had not responded as quickly as they did, many people would have died or suffered severe effects of hypothermia.

In fact, so many lives were saved in the "Miracle on the Hudson" that it's believed to be the most successful marine rescue in aviation history.

NY Waterway Capt. Vincent Lombardi remembered that day: He had just pulled the ferry Thomas Jefferson away from West 39th Street, ready for its 3:30 p.m. departure, when he saw the unthinkable: Flight 1549 drifting down the frozen Hudson River, right in front of him.

He threw the ferry into gear and reached the plane in three minutes. Deckhands Hector Rabanes and Wilfredo Rivera deployed the Jason’s Cradle and pulled 56 people on board.

There were many other heroes that day: Capt. Manny Liba and his crew on the Moira Smith rescued 14 people. Capt. Brittany Catanzaro and her crew on the Gov. Thomas Kean saved 24 people. Capt. Vincent LuCante on ferry Yogi Berra was there, as was Capt. Mike Starr, who had jumped aboard at the work dock and rescued 22 people from the sinking plane, including two babies.

In total, 14 NY Waterway ferries responded to the crash. The plane hit the water right at about 42nd Street and all the survivors were taken to ferry terminals at either West 39th Street in Manhattan or Port Imperial in Weehawken.

NY Waterway crews drill constantly in water rescues. And there have been other rescues, most notably when the ferries evacuated 150,000 people from Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.

Then in December 2022, NY Waterway rescued more than 500 passengers from a Staten Island ferry disabled by an engine room fire. In the August 13, 2003 blackout, when all trans-Hudson traffic was shut down, NY Waterway ferried 160,000 people home to New Jersey.

“This rescue is a true testament to the training and professionalism of our captains and crews. We will always be proud of the role we played in the rescue of the passengers of Flight 1549 and delight in the fact that all got back on land safely that day,” NY Waterway President and CEO Armand Pohan said this week, recalling the sixteenth anniversary of the "Miracle on the Hudson."

All the NY Waterway employees who participated in the "Miracle on the Hudson" rescue:

Vessel: Thomas Jefferson

Captain Vincent Lombardi

Hector Rabanes

Wilfredo Rivera

Rescued from plane: 56

22 ferry passengers

Vessel: Yogi Berra

Captain Vince Lucante

Captain Michael Starr

Rescued from plane: 24 (including 1 infant and 1 child)

Vessel: Athena

Captain Carl Lucas

Luis Salerno

Danny Convery

Rescued from plane: 19 (including the Pilot)

Vessel: Moira Smith

Captain Manny Liba

Natale Binetti

Gulio Farnese

Rescued from Plane: 14

Vessel: Thomas Kean

Captain Britanny Catanzaro

Osman Berete

Cosmo Mezzina

Rescued from plane: 26

Vessel: Admiral Richard Bennis

Captain John Winiarski

Frank Illuzzi

Rescued from plane: 3

Vessel: George Washington

Captain Mohamed Gouda

Jose Torres

Pepe Carumba

Gregorio Pages

Rescued from plane: 1