NEW YORK  – US investigators on Friday were to scrutinize the wreckage of the Airbus that crashed in the Hudson River and interview the pilot hailed as a hero for saving all 155 passengers and crew.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) dispatched a "Go Team" to New York, where the US Airways Airbus A-320 was still tethered to a Manhattan dock in the freezing Hudson.

The 20-member team led by senior air safety investigator Robert Benzon was to recover the black box flight recorder and examine the engines for evidence that a collision with birds may have triggered the crash, NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said.

It was not yet clear when the plane will be taken out of the water, he said.

Investigators "intend today" to interview the pilot and flight crew, he said.

Praise poured in for pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who is credited with conducting a miraculously soft landing after both engines lost power.

President George W. Bush telephoned to thank him for "his bravery and for his heroic efforts to ensure the safety of his passengers and the people in the area," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg awarded Sullenberger, and the rest of the crew, the keys to the city. "We saw a lot of heroism in the Hudson yesterday," he said.

New York governor Governor David Paterson hailed the near-disaster as the "Miracle on the Hudson."

Following an extraordinarily skillful landing on the Hudson, all 150 passengers and five crew on US Airways flight 1549 were able to step out into rescue boats, few of them even suffering injuries.

The jet had just taken off from New York's La Guardia airport for Charlotte in North Carolina when both engines stopped -- apparently after a collision with birds, possibly geese, according to preliminary reports.

Unable to return to La Guardia, or reach any other airport, the captain decided to ditch.

Seconds after the crash, frantic passengers scrambled out onto the airplane wings, chilly river water lapping at their feet. Ferryboats steamed to the rescue as the aircraft slipped under the water.

Incredibly, the most serious injury appeared to be one broken leg, Bloomberg said.

Passenger Jeff Kolodjay said that when Sullenberger told passengers to brace for impact, he said the "Hail Mary" prayer.

"We hit the water pretty hard," Kolodjay told Newsday daily newspaper -- hard enough for some people to hit their heads on the ceiling.

But once on the river, the doors opened and passengers headed for the wings as water poured into the jet, Kolodjay said.

Bloomberg said the pilot stayed behind to make sure everyone was safe.

"He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off and tried to verify that there was nobody else onboard."

Aviation experts interviewed in the US media said that landing the plane at that angle was tricky. Had Sullenberger made a mistake the fuselage would likely have cracked and taken on water upon hitting the river, they said.

One passenger, Fred Beretta, said Sullenberger carried out a "phenomenal landing."

Asked if he had a message for the crew, Beretta said: "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope somebody gives you a great big award for your performance."

Sullenberger runs a transport safety consultancy and has clocked up 19,000 hours of flying time in his career as a pilot, according to a biography on his website.

The former US Air Force fighter pilot has served as an instructor and safety chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association. He has also participated in several accident investigations for the NTSB.

John Silcott, a United Airlines pilot with eight years experience of flying the Airbus A320, said Sullenberger's safe landing was "remarkable."

Silcottan, an executive at Expert Aviation Consulting, said the relatively calm waters of the Hudson -- as opposed to the heaving swell faced by a pilot seeking to land a plane on the ocean -- would have assisted Sullenberger.

He added the positioning of the Airbus A320's engines under the wing would have left Sullenberger trying to make the plane land tail first.

"The last thing you want is for the engines, which are under the wing, to dig into the water and push the nose into the water," he said.

Eyewitness Troy Keitt, 46, told AFP he was so surprised to see the crash he was convinced it was part of a movie being filmed.

"No one was panicking," he told AFP, adding that he had been astonished not to hear screams as people lined up on the wings.