The vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board yesterday apologized to a Beaver County flight attendant for telling a reporter that a passenger on the plane that made an emergency landing in the Hudson River had contradicted her statement that a panicked passenger tried to open the plane's rear door.

Robert Sumwalt told The Associated Press last week that passenger Billy Campbell had been called to testify Tuesday at a public hearing into the crash to counter statements made by Doreen Welsh, 57, of Economy, the flight attendant in the rear of US Airways Flight 1549.

After the plane hit birds after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York, the pilot ditched the Airbus in the Hudson and everyone got out safely.

In testimony before Congress and in various media interviews, Ms. Welsh had said a female passenger pushed past her and tried to open one of the back doors, cracking the seal about an inch as water rushed into the rear of the plane from a hole in the fuselage.

Testifying yesterday in Washington, D.C., Mr. Campbell described Ms. Welsh as a hero and said he didn't know anything about the panicked passenger until she told him about her at a reunion several weeks after the crash.

In advance of the hearing, Mr. Sumwalt had told the AP that Mr. Campbell's written statement suggested Ms. Welsh tried to open the door herself. The NTSB said Mr. Sumwalt had confused Mr. Campbell's statements with those from some other passengers.

Mr. Campbell said that Ms. Welsh acted professionally during the entire episode, from the moment the plane hit the birds to the time the passengers evacuated onto the wings. As the back of the Airbus filled with water, she ordered the passengers away from the back doors and waited until everyone had moved ahead to the wings before she left the rear.

"She was courageous," said Mr. Campbell. "She was heroic."

Contrary to what Mr. Sumwalt had said, the NTSB said Mr. Campbell was called to testify because he had the most detailed account of what happened inside the plane.

But the damage was done. The AP story appeared in papers across the country over the weekend, including the Beaver County Times, which did its own version.

On Monday, the day before the three-day hearing was to start, Ms. Welsh said she was angry at being maligned and promised that the record would be set straight the next day.

"This is all ridiculous," she said from her home. "The NTSB made a mistake. It will all come out tomorrow."

Yesterday, immediately after Mr. Sumwalt apologized to Mr. Campbell and to Ms. Welsh, whom he did not identify by name, she received a call from Mike Flores, president of the US Airways chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, to say she had been vindicated.

"It's such a relief to have this all behind me," she said. "I appreciate the fact that Mr. Sumwalt apologized. That wasn't easy for him to do. He did the right thing."

Ms. Welsh also thanked Mr. Campbell for his testimony.