MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A group of Delta passengers is safe after their flight made an emergency landing on Monday.
“You’re thinking, ‘The plane is about to catch on fire,'” said one passenger. “I mean, that was the scariest thing to me I think.”
Delta passengers described the fear they had midflight Monday morning.
“We heard this kaboom, bang, thump, thud and you could hear the power just go down and it was like, ‘What just happened?’” said passenger Mace Coday.
They said they weren’t even ten minutes into the flight from Memphis to Atlanta when they heard something crash into the side of the plane.
“Oh gosh, what wouldn’t go through your head?” said passenger Danny Marshall. “It’s just like you think the worst. It was a very loud noise. It wasn’t just a bump, it was loud.”
Passengers said it smelled like burnt rubber and the plane slowed down.
“The ride was a little, it wasn’t bumpy, but it would kind of wave and obviously he put us in low power mode because it was excruciatingly slow,” said Coday.
They said everyone on board was silent, many holding hands and hoping for the best. Then the pilot told everyone what the culprit was: A goose hit the plane, right in the engine. The plane turned around and landed safely.
“Everyone was really happy to land and applauded the crew and clapped because they were so excited to be on the ground,” said Marshall.
The passengers we spoke with all commended the pilot.
“When we got off, I shook the pilots hand, his hand was like soaked wet with sweat so you could tell he was definitely nervous,” said Marshall.
The only complaints we’ve heard is the delays this caused. Delta said 144 people were on the plane and some of them couldn’t catch another flight for eight hours.
“All I’m saying is when that type of situation happens and an entire flight gets grounded ten minutes into the flight, you need a backup plan,” said Coday.
