'Miracle' plane draws camera-toting spectators

Spectators lined the Jersey City waterfront Monday to see the U.S. Airways Flight 1549 aircraft, as federal officials began looking at the now-famous plane that crashed in the Hudson River last week.

News 12 Staff

Feb 9, 2009, 5:50 PM

Updated 5,774 days ago

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Spectators lined the Jersey City waterfront Monday to see the U.S. Airways Flight 1549 aircraft, as federal officials began looking at the now-famous plane that crashed in the Hudson River last week.
"It's eerie to see it in the condition it's in," says Jaci Pierson, of Sparta. "The fact that so many people got off the plane safely, which they did, it's amazing."
The plane now sits at Weeks Marine on Port Jersey Boulevard. Pierson and her children, like dozens of others, went Monday to the marina to see with their own eyes what they've watched on the news.
"I wanted [my children] to remember, and see what happened, and just how miraculous it was," Pierson says.
Bob Koepke, of Bayonne, had the day off from work for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and decided to drive to Jersey City to see the miracle plane.
"Well, I heard they were moving it. I said 'let's go down and see it,'" Koepke says.For the onlookers, it was the fact that no one died that made this a special trip. Koepke, and many others, praised pilot Chesley Sullenberger for landing the plane safely.
"This guy Sully, he is a hero. One guy asked, 'should they give him a parade?' Yeah, give that man a parade," Koepke says.
For an extended interview with Sully's goddaughter, select iO Extra on Channel 612.