The so-called black boxes recovered from the US Airways jetliner which emergency-landed in New York’s Hudson River confirmed what the pilots told investigators. The black boxes captured sounds which indicated the impact with a flock of birds, a sudden malfunctioning of the two engines and the pilot’s mayday request.

The crew of the plane clearly said that Airbus A320 hit a flock of birds shortly after take off and this caused the crash. The pilot of the jetliner, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who became a hero for his maneuver that saved all the 155 passengers aboard the plane, told the exact same story as the one extracted from the black boxes. More precisely, investigators heard "the sound of thumps and a rapid decrease in engine sounds," National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said.

Captain Sullenberger took the best decision possible. First he thought about landing at New Jersey airports, but decided it couldn’t make it that far so he informed the passengers that he will ditch the plane in the Hudson River.

Sullenberger, 58, said he felt thuds as the plane collided with the flock of birds at a speed of about 250 mph. The captain said he smelled burning birds. The windscreen was “literally filled with big, dark brown birds," said Captain Sullenberger, who immediately took control after the impact with the birds.

The impact with the flock of birds caused the aircraft’s both engines to fail at an altitude of only 3,200 feet, the black boxes showed. The search for the aircraft’s left engine was suspended until Tuesday because ice floes in the river.