The Airbus A320 that ditched in the Hudson River in January, 2009-without the loss of a single life-and came to rest alongside Rockefeller Park (above) was hoisted onto a barge, after which salvage operator Weeks Marine cut off the wings and tail assembly, to allow the fuselage to be hauled on a flatbed truck through New Jersey streets, to a warehouse where federal investigators picked it apart for two years.
Afterward, the insurance company that had provided coverage to U.S. Air (and thus ended up in possession of an aircraft that was, by that point, essentially junk) tried to auction it off, on an “as is/where is” basis.
The hoped-for bidding war did not ensue, and the plane was eventually bought (at a steep discount) by the Carolinas Aviation Museum, which reattached all the missing parts and restored the interior.
New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum had expressed interest, but in at least one sense, the plane’s new home is entirely appropriate: the Museum is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was Flight 1549’s destination on the day of its splash landing.
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