Passengers board an inflated raft, while others await rescue standing on the mostly submerged wing of US Airways Flight 1549 after the jet splash-landed in the Hudson River in New York on Thursday. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

The pilot of a crippled US Airways jet liner made a split-second decision to put down in the Hudson River because trying to return to the airport after birds knocked out both engines could have led to a "catastrophic" crash in a populated neighbourhood, he told investigators Saturday.

Capt. Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger said that in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was "too low, too slow" and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony.

The pilot and his first officer provided their first account to NTSB investigators Saturday of what unfolded inside US Airways Flight 1549 in the moments after it slammed into a flock of birds and lost both engines.

Co-pilot Jeff Skiles, who was flying the plane, saw the birds coming in perfect formation, and made note of it. Sullenberger looked up, and in an instant his windscreen was filled with big, dark-brown birds.

A crane prepares to lift the Airbus A320 from its makeshift mooring along a seawall in lower Manhattan on Saturday. (Edouard H.R. Gluck/Associated Pressl)

"His instinct was to duck," said NTSB member Kitty Higgins, recounting their interview. Then there was a thump, the smell of burning birds, and silence as both aircraft engines cut out, she said.

The account illustrated how quickly things deteriorated after the bump at about 1,000 metres, and their fast realization that returning to New York's LaGuardia International Airport or getting to another airport was impossible.

Cabin silent

With both engines out, flight attendants described complete silence in the cabin — "like being in a library," Higgins said. A smoky haze and the odour of burning metal or electronics filled the plane.

The blow had come out of nowhere. The NTSB said radar data confirmed that the aircraft intersected a group of "primary targets," almost certainly birds, as the jet climbed over the Bronx.

Those targets had not been on the radar screen of the air traffic controller who approved the departure, Higgins said.

All 155 people aboard survived the incident and were quickly pulled from the jetliner by ferries and emergency crews.

Crane hauls submerged plane out of water

After the details of the river landing emerged, crews used a crane late Saturday to hoist the ditched plane from the Hudson River, revealing its shredded bottom as it was lifted on to a waiting barge.

Crews need to remove the cockpit voice and flight-data recorders and locate the left engine, which came off and sank following the crash-landing.

Divers originally thought both engines were lost, but realized Saturday that the right engine was still attached. The water had been so dark and murky that they couldn't see it.

The conditions were treacherous, with giant chunks of ice forming around the plane by midday. Divers who went into the river were sprayed down with hot water during breaks on shore.

The investigation played out as authorities released the first video showing the spectacular crash landing. Security cameras on a Manhattan pier captured the Airbus A320 as it descended in a controlled glide, then threw up a spray as it slid along the river on its belly.

The video also illustrated the swift current that pulled the plane downriver as passengers walked out on to the wings and ferry boats moved in for the rescue.

With files from the Associated Press