A crane began lifting the Airbus A-320 from the waters along a Battery Park City bulkhead in Manhattan about 10:25 p.m. and placed it aboard a barge at 11:45 after a long day of preparation.

The US Airways jetliner, carrying 150 passengers and five crew members, was ascending from LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, when First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles spotted a flock of birds flying in perfect formation, said National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Kitty Higgins.

Skiles thought the birds would fly under the plane, she said. They did not.

Then flight attendants heard an ominous “thud thump.”

The engines of the soaring jet cut out completely somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.

“They described it as complete silence,” Higgins said. “I think it was said it was like being in a library.”

When the engines failed, Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger took control of the plane, and Skiles vainly tried to restart the engines.

The two frantically considered where to land the airliner. They decided that LaGuardia and Teterboro airports were both out of reach, leaving only one other option.

“We’re gonna be in the Hudson.” Sullenberger declared to air-traffic controllers in the plane’s last transmission.

Sullenberger then guided the jetliner into the Hudson River for a near-perfect landing that has been hailed as a miracle and has transformed him into a national hero.

He landed the plane near a boat for a quick recovery — an emergency technique he learned from his training, Higgins said.

Higgins provided the first detailed account yesterday of the harrowing five-minute flight Thursday from LaGuardia, based on transmissions between Sullenberger and controllers, as well as interviews with the flight crew.

Higgins said the jet was cleared for takeoff at 3:24 p.m., but ran into trouble within three minutes, when radar showed the still-climbing plane converging with “primary targets” — possibly a flock of birds. The objects were not on the departure controller’s radar screen, she said.

“Aah, this is Cactus 1549,” Sullenberger radioed controllers. “We hit birds. We lost thrust in both engines. We’re turning back towards LaGuardia.”

Cactus is a reference to America West Airlines, which is based in Arizona. The two airlines merged in 2005.

LaGuardia stopped departures, but at 3:28, the pilot said he was “unable” to return to LaGuardia or land at Teterboro Airport. The attendants, meanwhile, felt the aircraft descend, saw a light smoke in the cabin and smelled a burning electric odor.

“An announcement came from the captain: Brace for impact,” Higgins said.

The attendants shouted to the passengers — “brace, brace, heads down” — without using the intercom.

The plane ditched in the Hudson at 3:30.

The attendants described it as a hard landing with no bounce.

“Neither one of them realized that they were in the water,” Higgins said. “The plane came to a stop; the captain issued a one-word command: evacuate.”

After one passenger insisted on opening the aft door, letting water into the cabin, a flight attendant started moving passengers forward, Higgins said. Once the passengers left the cabin via the emergency exits over the wings, the captain, co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles and the attendants left.

“The flight attendants said there was no panic, no jostling, no yelling,” Higgins said.

An effort to raise the plane from the river continued through yesterday.

Officials said they were working to free the right wing from the seawall, where it was wedged in river muck under the wall. Because the plane is filled with water, workers must raise it gradually and let the water drain.

The NTSB said poor water visibility made it hard for the divers to see the engine Friday.

Initial reports said the plane had lost both engines as it skidded across the Hudson, but a spokeswoman with the NTSB said divers discovered that one engine was still attached to the right wing yesterday morning.

“The divers that went down [yesterday], with the better visibility were able to see the engine,” a spokeswoman said.

The day-long effort to hoist the submerged commercial airliner resulted in movement late last night. A massive crane sitting atop a barge gradually moved the plane away from the bulkhead.

The NTSB needs the plane’s flight-data recorder, or “black” box from the plane’s tail section, to complete its investigation.

The effort to move the plane began with divers fastening harnesses below its fuselage. The harnesses were connected to horizontal bars above the plane, and the bars were attached to the crane’s cables.

A small boat kept ice floes away from the plane by turning its motor against the harbor-bound current.

The crane began to make significant progress about 10:25 p.m., lifting the tail from the water first. Within 10 minutes, most of the fuselage was visible, and at 10:45, the wings began to emerge.

The crane swung the jet toward an empty barge about 11:20, and set it down about 25 minutes later. At one point, the right wing gave way slightly, and the plane shuddered, but it did not break.