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Crowne Plaza Hotel Helps Out With Flight 1549

Where: 104-04 Ditmars Blvd [map], East Elmhurst, NJ, United States, 11369

Surely you've heard by now: a US Airways flight 1549, which took off from New York's LaGuardia airport bound for Charlotte, made a miraculous crash landing in the Hudson river just minutes after departure yesterday afternoon. Everyone on board — 150 passengers and five crew (two pilots and three flight attendants) — got off the plane safely.

According to the NY Times' City Room blog, authorities have concluded that a bird (or several birds) struck the engine or engines.

Luckily, the plane was landed safely in the water and many passengers didn't even get wet in the frigid water:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said most of the passengers did not even touch the frigid Hudson. “There were a few that I talked to that went into the water,” he said. “Most I gather either stepped directly form the plane onto a boat, or onto the wings and then onto a boat, so most were not soaking wet.”

As of yesterday evening, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had set up a family center at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near LaGuardia Airport for the flight's passengers and their families.

[Photo: Chris Gay via NYTimes]