"This is cactus 1549, hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines," the flight's pilot told controllers at New York's LaGuardia International Airport at approximately 3:27 p.m. Thursday. "We're turning back towards LaGuardia."
The flight, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, had barely reached 3,000 feet (914 meters) when pilot C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger made the emergency call, National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said at a news conference Saturday.
Controllers immediately began preparations to clear a runway for an emergency landing, but less than a minute later, Sullenberger reported the aircraft wouldn't make it, Higgins said.
"We're unable. We may end up in the Hudson," he said, according to Higgins.
When a controller asked if the pilot wanted to try for an airport about six miles away in New Jersey, the pilot responded, "We can't do it."
The last communication from the plane to controllers, Higgins said, was the pilot saying, "We're gonna be in the Hudson."