have resulted in the plane cartwheeling on impact with the water and potentially killing those on board.

'Fantastic job'

"By the look of it he's done a fantastic job, the aircraft looks to be in fantastic shape," Mr Jackson said.

The successful ditching has energized pilots, many of whom appeared skeptical as to whether it was possible. Pilots also did not train for ditching, both Mr Jackson and Mr Glynn said.

"He needed to keep the wings level as much as he could but, given one engine could have had more damage than the other, this would have been difficult," he said.

"If a wing had pitched into the water first, the aircraft would have cartwheeled"

As it turned out, Mr Sullenberger brought the plane down nose-up with wings level, allowing the tail to break the surface of the water first, Mr Jackson said.

In a comment reflective of many of the comments on the online pilot forum, user PPRuNe said: "Remarkable, just proves you can ditch."