Passengers in an inflatable raft move away from an Airbus 320 US Airways aircraft that has gone down in the Hudson River in New York, the US, Thursday Jan. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
　　NEW YORK – Shock, relief, gratitude. Most of all, the soaked and freezing passengers of Flight 1549 just seemed amazed to be alive. All of them. "You've got to give it to the pilot," said Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., who was aboard the US Airways jet that ditched in the frigid Hudson River after an apparent collision with a flock of birds. "He made a hell of a landing."
　　"He was phenomenal," echoed Joe Hart, of Long Island, a salesman with investment firm ING.
　　"He landed it — I tell you what — the impact wasn't a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you. Both engines cut out, and he actually floated it into the river," he added.
　　Hart said he waited out on the wing of the plane, with others, as the water level rose from his knee to his waist.
　　"Most of the panic occurred while we were out on the wings or in the water, and the ferry boats were coming." But, he added, "I couldn't believe how fast they showed up. They were right there to pick us up."
　　"I knew I was safe," he said. "The big guy upstairs didn't want me." Later, Hart had recovered enough to send a humorous text message to an Associated Press reporter: "I'm certain this will get me an upgrade on my next flight!"
　　Soon after the plane took off from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., passenger Albert Panero felt "an impact and some sort of loud noise." He started smelling smoke. "Everybody could tell that something was kind of going on, it wasn't just turbulence or something like that."
　　Soon, Panero said on WABC-TV, "I knew that we were going down."
　　"You think of all the things that are about to happen," he said. "I thought, 'I guess this is it. I guess I'm going to die.' I turned my phone back on because it's got GPS. I figured if anything happened, they could find me — or find whatever's left."
　　But then, the plane hit the water, and Panero was surprised that no huge explosion ensued. "I looked outside, and you could just see the water start creeping up pretty quick," he said. "So that's when I said, 'OK, we gotta get out of here.'"
　　At first, there was "a mixed emotion of yelling and crying," Panero said. But it didn't last. "A couple people just kind of took charge and calmed everyone. Everyone got to the exits, and whoever was there just opened them up."
　　Most of all, Panero was grateful to the pilot. "I can't believe he managed to land that plane," he marveled.
　　Kolodjay, 31, who had been headed to a golfing trip in Myrtle Beach, N.C., said he noticed a jolt and felt the plane drop. He looked out the left side of the jet and could see one of the engines on fire.
　　"Then the captain said, 'Brace for impact because we're going down,'" Kolodjay said. "It was intense." He said some passengers started praying. He said a few Hail Marys.
　　"It was bad, man," Kolodjay said. But he and others spoke of a sense of calm and purpose that quickly descended on the passengers and crew as the plane started filling with water and rescue boats swarmed to the scene. They decided women and children would be evacuated first.
　　"Then the rest of us got out," he said.