‘Miracle on Hudson’ Airbus Heads to Aviation Museum

June 7, 2011 — An Airbus A320-214 will finally make it to its intended destination this week— nearly 2 ½ years after a flight that earned it the moniker, “Miracle on the Hudson.” The trucking company moving the fuselage, J. Soper & Son, departed with the plane on a flatbed trailer Saturday en route to the Carolinas Aviation Museum near the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. The airplane’s tail and wings are already at the museum after spending more than two years housed in a New Jersey warehouse. The Charlotte Observer reported that the trucking company decided to leave earlier than first planned in hopes of minimizing traffic tie-ups in urban New Jersey. "We'd tie up an ungodly amount of traffic on a Monday morning, if we waited until then," Shawn Dorsch, the Charlotte museum's volunteer president told the Observer. "So the movers thought it would be best to deal with weekend traffic.” Flight 1549 was headed to Charlotte on January 15, 2009 when pilot Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles were forced to land in the Hudson River after multiple bird strikes caused both engines to fail shortly after take-off from LaGuardia Airport in New York. All 155 passengers and crew survived. Police escorts and crowds of people wanting to see the famous plane have followed the plane as it travels by road. Delaware Online reported that more than 500 spectators were on hand to watch the Airbus cross the Delaware River about noon on Monday, halting traffic on the southbound span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The massive flatbed hauling the 191-foot, 194,000-pound fuselage -— 15 feet 10 inches wide and 15 feet, 5 inches tall — took about 10 minutes to cross the bridge, going 10-15 mph in the middle of the deck where clearance is highest, Master Cpl. Joseph M. DiStefano told Delaware Online. The plane stopped in Maryland on Monday, with plans to make it to the Maryland/West Virginia border today. To see where the Flight 1549 plane is now, go to www.jsupor.com, http://www.facebook.com/ - !/ft1549 or http://twitter.com/ - !/CarolinAirMusem. Reuters reported that it would take several months to reassemble the aircraft. The museum plans to re-create the atmosphere of the aircraft in the moments after the ditching, so the hull breaches and other damage are being preserved. The plane was almost auctioned for scrap before the museum launched a campaign to preserve it. A June 11 reception with crew and passengers is planned.

U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, on June 5, 2011. Photo credit: Reuters U.S. Airways flight 1549 rolls toward an underpass near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011. Photo credit: Reuters U.S. Airways flight 1549 is hauled on a truck through the streets in Elizabeth, New Jersey, June 4, 2011. Photo credit: Reuters

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