Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger said that in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was "too low, too slow" and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony. The pilot and his first officer provided their first account to NTSB investigators Saturday of what unfolded inside US Airways Flight 1549 in the moments after it slammed into a flock of birds and lost both engines. Co-pilot Jeff Skiles, who was flying the plane, saw the birds coming in perfect formation, and made note of it. Sullenberger looked up, and in an instant his windscreen was filled with big, dark-brown birds. "His instinct was to duck," said NTSB board member Kitty Higgins, recounting their interview. Then there was a thump, the smell of burning birds, and silence as both aircraft engines cut out. The account illustrated how quickly things deteriorated after the bump at 3,000 feet, and their fast realization that returning to LaGuardia or getting to another airport was impossible. 'Miracle on the Hudson' New York City office of the Mayor / AP19 photos An image taken from newly released surveillance video shows the crash landing of a US Airways jet on: