5000 Given To Each Hudson Crash Passenger

01.21.09 | FL News Team

U.S. Airways is sending a five-thousand-dollar check to every passenger who was aboard its flight that crashed in New York's Hudson River last week. The airline also has reimbursed those 150 passengers for their tickets. They and the five-member crew all survived the incident, in which the aircraft's engines failed after the jet collided with a flock of birds just minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport.

It will be months, however, before the passengers get back their possessions recovered in the aftermath of the emergency landing. The National Transportation Safety Board's ongoing investigation requires the aircraft and its contents be examined, weighed in their current state, be dried for eight weeks and then weighed again.