NEW YORK (AP) — Investigators brought in a giant crane and a barge Friday to help pull a US Airways jetliner from the Hudson River, and survivors among the 155 people aboard recounted tales of horror and hailed the pilot as a hero who delivered them from certain death.

While on a rescue raft with pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III in the frigid cold, passenger Billy Campbell said he went to him.

“I leaned over and grabbed his arm, and I said I just want to thank you on behalf of all of is, Campbell told NBC’s “Today” show. “He just said, ’You’re welcome.’“’

Campbell was sitting in the back of the plane when it landed on the water.

“The water was rushing in through the window seams and we couldn’t get the back exit open,” he said. “So, that scared us a little bit, and we tried and the flight attendant did a wonderful job trying, but then finally turned and said immediately “’Go to the wing (exit).”’

National Transportation Safety Board investigators will now focus on recovering the black box from the plane and interviewing the crew about the accident — apparently caused by birds that slammed into the plane’s two engines. The Airbus A320, built in 1999, is tethered to a pier on the tip of Lower Manhattan.