Two years after a US Airways jet left New York for Charlotte and made a miraculous landing on the Hudson River, it reached its intended destination and future home in a museum.
"My flight has finally come home," said Eileen Shleffar, who was sitting in seat 13D when the plane splashed in the river.
US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia airport when a flock of geese disabled the engines on Jan. 15, 2009. Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III of Danville safely glided to a water landing. All 155 passengers and crew members were rescued.
Thousands of people in several states have lined up along the road to glimpse the 120-foot-long fuselage on its 600-mile journey on a flatbed truck from New Jersey, where it had spent the last two years in a hangar. The wings of the damaged Airbus A320 were removed and shipped earlier to the Carolinas Aviation Museum.
Shleffar and other passengers on the flight posed in front of the plane as it arrived in a cargo area at the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
"It's emotional," she said about seeing the plane for the first time since the landing. "It's always going to be emotional to us."
Said fellow passenger Michael Leonard: "It's surreal."
Public interest in the jet's journey this week has surprised and touched Sullenberger.
"When I see images of people in their lawn chairs waiting for their airplane to roll by on the freeway overpass with a camera to get a glimpse of it is surprising and wonderful," he said in an interview.
Sullenberger will speak today at a fundraiser for the exhibit. It will be the first time the passengers and crew will be together with the plane since the accident.
"It will feel like a wonderful reunion," he said. "I think we'll feel that connection again."
Sullenberger was recently named an aviation and safety expert for CBS News.
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