A flight instructor’s calm, collected voice echoed through air traffic control audio moments before his small plane plunged into the frigid Hudson River Monday night, March 2, 2026, what New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling “another miracle on the Hudson.”
“We’re going into the Hudson River, I don’t think we are gonna make the airport,” the pilot radioed to controllers as his single-engine Cessna 172 lost power over Orange County.
The flight instructor and his student pilot survived the harrowing crash around 8 p.m. near the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, swimming roughly 200 feet through icy waters to reach shore. Both escaped without serious injuries in what officials are praising as an expertly executed emergency landing that echoes Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s famous 2009 landing that saved 155 lives.
The drama began as a routine night training session departing from Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma. The aircraft, registered to American Airman Inc., a flight school based on Long Island, flew north to Stewart International Airport for touch-and-go landing practice—a standard training exercise.
But shortly after taking off from Stewart for their return leg to Long Island, disaster struck. The aircraft lost oil pressure and power, forcing the instructor to take control and issue a mayday call. Moments later, the engine failed completely.
In audio shared with News 12, the pilot calmly told air traffic control, “We’ve lost our engine.”
Controllers cleared the aircraft to land back at Stewart, but the pilot realized he wouldn’t make it. The aircraft touched down on an ice-covered stretch of the Hudson roughly 200 feet from the western shoreline.
Brendan Gallagher, a pilot flying in the area at the time, heard the distress call and spotted the descent. He circled above the crash site, keeping watch until emergency responders arrived.
Stewart air traffic controllers played a critical role in the rescue, helping guide the stricken aircraft as it descended. When the plane hit the ice-covered water, both occupants freed themselves from the aircraft and swam through waters near 32 degrees to safety.
Emergency responders initially struggled to locate the aircraft in the darkness. The Middle Hope Fire Department reported the plane was spotted a few minutes later, appearing to sink beneath ice blocks roughly 60 miles north of Manhattan.
The pair was found near 401 Water Street and transported to St. Luke’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Neither person required significant medical attention, and both were treated and released.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus told News 12 the outcome could have been far worse. “This thing could have cartwheeled, which you see very common, and broke up,” he said.
The Middle Hope Fire Department praised the pilot’s performance during the crisis, noting he remained calm throughout the event and provided precise details to controllers despite the emergency.
Gov. Hochul referenced the January 2009 incident when Captain Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson after the plane struck a flock of birds and lost power in both engines. That landing, which occurred near Manhattan, became known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” after all 155 passengers survived.
Preliminary investigations indicate no signs of intoxication or impairment, and officials have found nothing of a criminal nature. The incident appears accidental, with the cause of the mechanical failure still under investigation.
The Federal Aviation Administration is leading the investigation into the crash. The Cessna 172 remained partially submerged in the Hudson River on Tuesday as authorities worked to recover the aircraft.