clipped from: www.iht.com   
International Herald Tribune

New York crashes, bird strikes in USAir history

The US Airways Airbus A320 that was forced to land in the Hudson River Thursday was bound for Charlotte, N.C. It struck a flock of birds during takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia, apparently disabling the engines.

A bird strike like the one on Thursday is not uncommon, although it's unusual for it to cause both engines to lose power, which is what the pilot of Flight 1549 reported.

USAir also had a bird strike in 2004 that caused a 737 to veer off a runway in Pittsburgh. No one was hurt.

In 1989, another USAir flight headed for Charlotte crashed.

US Airways Group Inc. flies 75 of the A320s, according to its Web site. The plane seats 150 people, including 12 in first class and 138 in coach. The plane that went into the Hudson was full.

Birds have been seen as high as 15,000 feet
If you're moving 175 knots, you're not going to have a whole lot of reaction time