On Jan. 15, 2009, a few Canadian geese with bad timing became snarge, a steely pilot became a hero, and the world became fascinated with images of a jet splashing into the Hudson River and then floating calmly as passengers crowded its wings.

But until now, few people have seen the equally surprising pictures of the second half of this story: when a salvage team used the biggest floating crane on the East Coast to pluck the ill-fated Airbus A320 from the frigid water.

Photographer Stephen Mallon was at a happy hour with his wife on the evening US Air Flight 1549 made the news. As people in the bar chatted about what was going on, he realized that he knew exactly who the authorities would turn to for help. Mallon specializes in documenting industrial subjects, and had been photographing the work of maritime contractor Weeks Marine, a company that had been hired to dump derelict subway cars into the ocean to create artificial reefs.