Most successful aircraft ditch - passenger count

Although there have been previous incidents of commercial airliners ditching – landing on water in emergency – where 100% of the passengers have survived, the largest number of survivors in a 100% success scenario were the 155 passengers and crew involved in the ditching of a US Airways Airbus A320 Flight 1549, flown by Captain Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger. The aircraft crashed almost immediately after take-off from New York’s LaGuardia airport, USA at 1503 hours local time (2003 hrs GMT) on 15 January 2009. The aircraft reached an altitude of 3,200 feet (975 metres) before suffering several birdstrikes with a flock of geese about ninety seconds after take-off, which damaged the engines causing a loss of power. As the pilot was unable to turn back to LaGuardia airport for a safe landing or to make the nearby Teterboro airport, he elected to ditch on the Hudson River. Flight data recorders confirm that the engines cut out simultaneously according to investigators from the US National Transport Safety Board. None of the passengers received serious injury.