Second Jet Engine Salvaged From Hudson

The battered, twisted left engine of the US Airways plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River was recovered Friday, after an eight-day struggle to find the wreckage and pull it from the murky water.

Using a large crane and rigging, salvage crews gently set the engine on a crane platform. Shards of metal and wiring hung from the engine, and a large portion of the outer shell appeared to be missing as it was lifted from the river bottom, 65 feet below the surface.

Immediately after the engine was set down, National Transportation Safety Board investigators began documenting and photographing it as part of their probe into the plane's remarkable landing.

New York Police Department and New Jersey State Police harbor officers working with a federal sonar expert located the engine on Tuesday on the river floor near where Flight 1549 made its emergency landing Jan. 15.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-bound plane splashed down in the river after hitting a flock of birds and apparently losing power in both engines shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport.

All 155 people on board survived.

Earlier this week, the NTSB said the right engine revealed evidence of "soft body damage," and "organic material" was found in the engine and on the wings and fuselage. A single feather also was found.

The NTSB said samples of the material have been sent to the U.S. Agriculture Department for a DNA analysis.

The engine will be taken to a facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, where the rest of the plane was shuttled by barge last weekend.

Bird Radar Could Be Expanded To All N.Y.-N.J. Airports

Authorities said they want a sophisticated bird-detection system at New York City area airports.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Aviation Director William DeCota said the system could easily encompass all three major regional airports - LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark.

He said the system is already slated to be deployed at Kennedy airport. The system beeps when birds fly near a jet, allowing air traffic controllers to warn pilots.

Flight 1549 departed from LaGuardia on Jan. 15 before the pilot reported bird strikes. Both engines were knocked out, forcing the pilot to ditch the plane in the river

The National Transportation Safety Board discovered a feather on one of the plane's wings.