“I heard what sounded like gunshots in the distance,” said Matt Gogluicii of Edgewater, who was on the Weehawken waterfront Thursday afternoon with other people who had just seen the crash of a U.S. Airways plane into the Hudson River.
Soon after, Gogluicii, of Edgewater, said he witnessed a U.S. Airways Plane flying a few hundred feet over the water, “just sputtering.”
Mary Churchill, a real estate salesperson in the same part of town, witnessed the plane frightfully low along the Hudson River while at her job at Henley on the Hudson. She said it appeared that the pilot was making the conscious decision to go into the river because of how controlled his “landing” was.
The plane landed by the Port Imperial Ferry Terminal and drifted quite a ways south, said Churchill. She said a man in her office during the event, whose father was a pilot, said that the person responsible for bringing the plane into the Hudson River did a “really good job.”
“I saw one guy in the water, but I think everyone else was on the plane or on the wings,” said Churchill.
Her fellow salesperson, Kevin Donnelly, said that while speaking to clients, the plane started to fly at building height and within 30 seconds descended rapidly into the river. While it was able to land intact, he said from his vantage point he feared it would flip or break up because of how large the engine was.
“And then it was apparent it was not intended, because immediately you saw a lot of the passengers in the water out on the wings,” said Donnelly. “I noticed it was very barren [on the river]. No sirens, no ferries, no calls, no helicopters, so it looked like it may have been happening at a quick pace and [the pilots] did their best.”
Donnelly said that as dramatic as the scene was, that “we’re all kind of numb to that because we’ve seen it and other footage from other incidents.”
Witnesses said that soon after, ferries began rescuing people from the plane’s wings.
According to latest reports, no one was injured in the crash.
See original story and photo slideshow below.