AIG Insured US Airways Plane

U.S. Airways Flight 1549 that crash-landed in the Hudson River yesterday without fatalities was insured by an American International Group company.

According to an FAA spokeswoman, U.S. Airways' insurer is listed as National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh. The broker that placed the risk is Willis Group Holdings.

Willis declined to comment. An AIG spokesman confirmed that the company is the lead underwriter for the airline, but could provide no additional information.

According to Highline Data, a member of Summit Business Media, the parent company of National Underwriter, National Union Fire Co. of Pittsburgh is an “A”-rated company that wrote more than $7 billion in net premiums and reported more than $1 billion in net income in 2007.

During a press conference in New York today, Kitty Higgins, a National Transportation Safety Board member, the agency charged with investigating the accident, said both engines on the plane are missing. The New York City Police Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using radar to locate the engines, which fell off as the hull was towed in to shore.

She said the NTSB plans to talk to the pilots of the plane tomorrow, but declined to say what caused the accident. Reports say a flock of birds hit the airliner as it took off from La Guardia Airport in New York.

The NTSB has not yet recovered the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorders (the Black Boxes) due to the cold water and rapid currents. She said they hope to recover the data tomorrow after the plane has been lifted from the river.

“One of the things that we want to do here is not only to celebrate what worked here but also learned what worked,” said Ms. Higgins, adding that because all 155 aboard survived the NTSB does not have to rely on data recorders alone to tell the story.

This article was updated at 4:53 p.m.