Crews are ready to work into the night to slowly lift out of the Hudson River a waterlogged US Airways jet that made a surprise splash landing on Thursday.

Police have barricaded the area surrounding the plane in Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan as crews use cranes to lift the A320 Airbus jet.

Huge chunks of ice and slush surround the jet, so great caution is being used to begin to hoist and than drain the plane of water. Crews want to keep the plane whole, to collect as much physical evidence as possible, but the aircraft could break.

The plane has been steadily taking in water, and now weighs an estimated million pounds. The cockpit has submerged and the strong surrounding tides have loosened the rigging around the jet.

Eventually, the plane will be placed on a barge and taking to an undisclosed location in New Jersey.

Contrary to previous reports, salvage teams were surprised that the plane still has its right engines, and are currently using sonar to search the river for the other missing engine. However, mud and thick sediment at the bottom of the river makes the search difficult.

The plane’s pilot said birds hit the engines, forcing him to make the emergency landing. But the National Transportation Safety Board says it needs to examine the engines before making a final ruling on the cause. Federal investigators also want to recover the plane’s flight data and its black box recorders, to understand what happened to the plane mechanically.

The NTSB held a press conference late Friday afternoon that revealed dramatic testimony from two of the three flight attendants and the pilot’s communications with the air traffic controllers, which painted a vivid picture of the five minutes between the jet’s takeoff at LaGuardia and its forced river landing.

Three minutes after takeoff, the plane allegedly hit two birds. The flight attendants described that they heard a “loud thud-thump,” followed by the two engines on a plane. Unaccustomed to such silence on a plane, the two witnesses described the rare experience as “like being in a library.”

Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot, told the air traffic controllers, “Hit birds. We lost thrust in both engines.” A minute later, when asked if he could return to LaGuardia he said, “We’re unable. We may end up in the Hudson.”

Asked by the controllers if he could land in nearby Teterboro Airport, Sullenberg repeated, “We can’t do it…We’re going to be in the Hudson.”

The flight attendants said they did not feel the plane turn, but did feel the descent, accompanied with a burning, metallic smell.

The pilot said over the intercom, “Brace, brace for impact,” and then the attendants shouted at the passengers to keep their heads down.

The attendants said gliding onto the river felt like a gradual “hard landing” with “no bounce.” The testimony finished by saying the passengers did not panic as they evacuated the plane.

The NTSB will hold another press conference tonight with descriptions of testimony from Sullenberger.

(Source: NY1)