up, up and away: US Airways Airbus, that made an emergency landing in the Hudson River on Friday, sits on a barge after being hauled out of the river. pic/apu00a0

Both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were recovered in "excellent" condition from a crippled US Airways jetliner that landed safely on the Hudson River last week, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Sunday. Crews successfully hoisted the wreckage of US Airways Flight 1549 out of the water on Saturday.

And the information from both recorders was consistent with previous reports of the plane hitting a flock of birds before losing power in both engines. At a news conference Sunday, NTSB board member Kitty Higgins said the cockpit voice recorder captured sounds of loud "thumps" seconds after the pilot and first officer commented on a nearby flock of birds. The thumps are followed by "a rapid decrease in engines sounds," she added.

She said the flight data recorder indicated "both engines lost power simultaneously" when the plane was at 3,200 feet some 90 seconds after taking off from New York's LaGuardia airport Thursday afternoon.