Crew members, including pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, of the U.S. Airways flight that crashed on the Hudson River last month without any casualties are currently testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel. Authorities are still investigating whether a bird strike had caused the accident.

"It was a completely unremarkable flight," Sullenberger, who has been hailed as a hero for keeping all 155 passengers of the plane alive, told the panel on Tuesday. "The take-off and initial departure were normal up until the screen was filled by birds."

Sullenberger then described "abnormal vibrations from both engines" and "a burned bird smell" before losing power in the plane.

Most of the flight attendants did not prepare opening statements, but Patrick Harten, the New York Tracon air traffic controller who communicated with Flight 1549 before the accident, said he made "a split-decision to offer him [Sullenberger] the closest runway."

Harten added that he had exprienced about 10 to 12 emergencies in his career, but had "never worked with aircraft with zero thrust capabilities." He said he was shocked when he lost radar contact with Sullenberger since ""people do not survive landings on the Hudson River."

Committee chair Jim Oberstar (D-MN) told the crew and Harten in his opening statement, "You represent the very best of aviation. Lindbergh would be proud of you. Your management of the immediate impact in the aftermath of that tragedy are exemplary of what we expect, what Americans sets for the world in excellence in aviation service."

Recordings between Flight 1549 and air traffic controllers on Jan. 15 were released by the Federal Aviation Administration early this month. They indicated that Sullenberger was forced to land into the Hudson only minutes after taking off from LaGuardia Airport.

He can be heard in one of the recordings telling New York Tracon at 3:27:36 pm, only two minutes after take-off, "Ah, this, uh, Cactus 1539. Hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines. We're turning back towards LaGuardia."

Tracon responded, "OK, yeah, you need to return to Laguardia. Turn left heading of uh, 2-2-0," and then told LaGuardia,"Tower, stop your departures. We got an emergency returning."

Controllers can then be heard trying to set up a runway for Flight 1549.

"Cactus 1529, if we can get it to you, do you want to try to land runway 1-3?" Tracon asked at 3:28:05 pm.

Sullenberger replied, "We're unable. We may end up in the Hudson." Half a minute later he asks, "I am not sure if we can make any runway. Oh, what's that over to our right? Anything in New Jersey, maybe Teterboro?"

Controllers clear a runway clear at Teterboro, but at 3:29:25 pm Sullenberger says, "We can't do it... We're gonna be in the Hudson." That was the last air controllers heard of Flight 1549 before they lost radar contact.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the crash but has said in a statement that the left engine of the plane, recovered on Jan. 23 from the Hudson River, "was found to contain bird remains."

On Feb. 12, it said, "The bird remains found in both engines of US Airways flight 1549 have been identified by the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory as Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)... While no determination has been made about how many birds the aircraft struck or how many were ingested into the engines, an adult Canada Goose typically ranges in size from 5.8 to 10.7 pounds, however larger individual resident birds can exceed published records."