NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- Minutes after he reported hitting birds and losing power in both engines , the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 calmly told an air traffic controller the plane would ditch into the Hudson River . Surveillance video shows passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 hurrying onto the plane 's wings . `` We ca n't do it , '' pilot Chesley B . `` Sully '' Sullenberger said at 3:29 p.m. on January 15 , in response to efforts to land the plane at New Jersey 's Teterboro airport , according to a recording released Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration . `` We 're gon na be in the Hudson , '' Sullenberger said , about three and a half minutes after the Airbus A320 took off from New York 's LaGuardia Airport . `` I 'm sorry , say again , '' said the controller , from New York Tracon , a radar facility on Long Island that handles flights after they depart from LaGuardia or Teterboro airports.. Listen to the pilot talk to the controllers » . There is no response . The plane , headed from LaGuardia to Charlotte , North Carolina , ditched into the frigid Hudson River . All 155 passengers and crew members on board survived the incident . About two minutes before Sullenberger said the plane would end up in the river , he reported hitting birds and losing power in both engines . `` Hit birds . We lost thrust in both engines . We 're turning back towards LaGuardia , '' Sullenberger said at 3:27 p.m. , about a minute and a half after the flight took off . A controller at New York Tracon responded to the pilot , saying `` OK , yeah , you need to return to LaGuardia . '' The controller then alerted LaGuardia 's air traffic control tower : `` Tower , stop your departures , we got an emergency returning . '' Read transcript of pilot 's communication with controllers . Minutes later , Sullenberger said the plane might not make it back to LaGuardia . `` We 're unable . We may end up in the Hudson , '' he said . The Tracon controller then asked the pilot if he wants to go to Teterboro airport in New Jersey . The pilot said yes , and the controller alerted air traffic control there . At 3:29 p.m. , however , Sullenberger told the Tracon controller the plane could n't make it to that airport , and shortly afterward , the plane dropped into the Hudson . On Wednesday , the National Transportation Safety Board said both the plane 's engines contained the remains of birds . The engines from Flight 1549 had been sent to the manufacturer in Cincinnati , Ohio , where the NTSB directed the analysis , the safety board said in a news release . Material from both engines was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for identification of the bird species . iReport.com : Passenger 's perspective moments after crash . The plane 's flight data recorder `` revealed no anomalies or malfunctions in either engine up to the point where the captain reported a bird strike , after which there was an uncommanded loss of thrust in both engines , '' the NTSB said .
`` We may end up in the Hudson , '' pilot tells controllers . The plane is now flying at a lower altitude than it was before the emergency landing. Jet 's engines failed after plane struck birds , pilot reported . Bird remains found in both of plane 's engines .