Aviation officials questioned crew members and recovered flight recorders Thursday in an effort to learn why a USAir jet carrying 63 people aborted takeoff and skidded into the East River, killing two passengers.
About 10 people were rescued clinging to driftwood, while others huddled on the wing of the 9-month-old Boeing 737-400 that broke apart late Wednesday at the water's edge at LaGuardia Airport."We just grabbed on to a big piece of wood and held on for dear life," said Tom Newberry, 27, of New York City.
The plane's data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered Thursday morning, Port Authority spokesman Mark Marchese said. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived and began talking to the crew.
"Something happened and he put on the brakes. The plane took a dip and the next thing I knew all hell broke loose," said passenger Larry Martin of New York City, who huddled in blankets with his wife, Valerie.
"People were on top of each other. People were screaming. There was the smell of gas. Everyone was saying `Get out! Get out! Get out!' " he said. The Martins got out and held fast to driftwood until a police boat plucked them from the water.
Officials said two women who had seats in the rear of the plane near where the fuselage snapped were killed. Their bodies were taken from the cabin; the cause of death was not immediately known.
Forty-five people were taken to the hospital; two were reported in serious condition and a third was in stable condition after a heart attack.
The Coast Guard said overnight that up to six people were missing, and divers were sent to look for them. But an airline spokeswoman, Susan Young, said all 57 passengers and six crew members were accounted for as of 8 a.m.
Flight 5050, bound for Charlotte, N.C., originally scheduled for departure at 7:27 p.m., was delayed by heavy rain. But officials said weather was not a factor in the 11:29 p.m. crash.
The plane split into three pieces, its nose remaining above water on a pier that holds runway approach lights. The other pieces were partly submerged in 25- to 40-foot-deep water, just beyond a runway that extended onto pylons 10 feet above the water. A crane raised the wreckage at dawn.
"What held it up was a lighting bridge," Mayor Edward I. Koch said of the front section. "The back section, God held that up."
Stephen Berger, executive director of the Port Authority, which operates the airport, said several people walked away from the crash, and at least one took a taxi home.
Some survivors crawled onto the wing to await rescue. Others - some shoeless - slid out exits into the water. At least one person was cut from the wreckage. "They were hanging from the pier, hanging on the wing, hanging from the front of the plane," said police Lt. Larry Johnston.
The airport reopened Thursday morning after six hours.
The plane was delivered new to USAir in January and had no history of mechanical problems, said Nancy Vaughan, another USAir spokeswoman.
Coast Guard Lt. Tom Blisard said most of the passengers were saved because the water was not cold, the plane went down close to the lighted runway and the impact was not harsh. He said the only problem was a strong current.
David Hawthorne, a CBS News producer who was on the plane, said he moved toward the back and got out onto a wing. "A lot of women and children were screaming that they couldn't swim, they couldn't swim," Hawthorne said.
Coast Guard boats and planes, police vehicles, a cherry picker and divers responded.
Frank O'Brien, 25, of New York City, said he helped a few passengers.
"A couple of people couldn't swim so we got them on the driftwood," he said. "It was a kind of `row, row, row your boat.' It was kind of funny, but not really. You can't think about what can happen here."
The plane's engines apparently cut off halfway down the runway and went into reverse thrust, Hawthorne said. "At that time no one thought there was going to be real trouble," he told CBS via cellular telephone.
"Most people were pretty calm after we got out onto the wing of the plane," he said. "And they waited for boats to come pick us up and the rescuers also arrived, and I have to say they did a pretty good job of keeping everybody calm and getting them safely off."
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(Additional information)
CHART
Flight 5050
US Air
Type: Boeing 737-400
Length: 119 ft. 7 in.
Wingspan: 94 ft. 9 in.
Engines: Two turbofans mounted under wings
Range: About 2,500 mi.
Passengers: 55, plus 6 crew
Built by: Boeing Commercial Aircraft Co., Seattle
Introduced: 1988
Source: Jane's All the World's Aircraft