NEW YORK, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Aviation officials say they have found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the US Airways jetliner that landed in a New York river.
Transportation officials told The New York Times early Sunday that the so-called black boxes, which contain crucial data that will help investigators reconstruct the incident, were recovered from the ravaged jetliner after it was hoisted out of the Hudson River Saturday.
The black boxes have been sent to Washington for analysis to find clues about what caused Flight 1549's two engines to quit shortly after takeoff from La Guardia Airport on Thursday. The recorders will also reveal more about the pilots' actions that brought the plane down safely, the Times said.
Earlier Saturday, National Transportation Safety Board officials provided reporters with a detailed narrative of the incident, telling CNN the pilot who landed the plane on the river said the craft had collided with a flock of birds. He said he feared "catastrophic consequences" if he tried to reach another airport.
Praise poured in for pilot C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, 58, for his handling of the river landing, CNN reported. All 155 people on board the plane survived.
