Flight 1549: Full of Bird Body Parts

Good news is abounding for those folks who are waiting on their luggage from Flight 1549: you might not have to hold out that long. That's because the investigation on why the flight crashed is already underway and in case it wasn't abundantly obvious, there was a bird involved.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (via Airline Biz):

"The left (#1) engine, which was recovered from the Hudson River on January 23 and subsequently shipped to the manufacturer in Cincinnati where the NTSB is directing a teardown, was found to contain bird remains.

"The organic material found in the right (#2) engine has also been confirmed to be bird remains. The material from both engines has been sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington where the particular bird species will be identified."

[...]During the accident flight, the flight data recorder revealed no anomalies or malfunctions in either engine up to the point where the captain reported a bird strike, after which there was an uncommanded loss of thrust in both engines.

Well, gee, thanks for the heads up, folks. It's refreshing to know that the obvious problem here -- a bird flying into the engine of a plane -- caused the obvious effect: the plane crashed. It's especially nice to feel the soft touch of security that comes from wasting millions of dollars to find this out. 

On the bright side, we did get to see Flight 1549 towed through town!