southwest airlines new orleans passenger dies

'We were very lucky to have such a skilled pilot and crew to see us through it,' Zilbert said.

She said passengers clapped and praised the pilot after the aircraft touched down. He posted, 'Something is wrong with our plane! It appears we are going down! Emergency landing!! Southwest flight from NYC to Dallas!!' After the plane landed, he posted photos of a broken window near the left engine.Įveryone started yelling to brace for impact as the plane came in for a landing, Bourman said. Passenger Marty Martinez went on Facebook Live while wearing an oxygen mask. In a recording of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic controllers, an unidentified crew member reported: 'We have a part of the aircraft missing, so we're going to need to slow down a bit.' She also said that there was a hole in the plane and that she was told 'someone went out.'Īfter the plane landed, a woman was hospitalized in critical condition, and seven others were treated for minor injuries, authorities said. 'You had a few passengers that were very strong, and they kept yelling to people, you know, 'It's OK! We're going to do this!'' 'Everybody was crying and upset,' she said. She said the plane was fairly quiet because everyone was wearing a mask. Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said there was a fuel leak in the engine when firefighters arrived and a small fire was quickly brought under control.īourman said she was seated near the back and was asleep when she heard a loud noise and oxygen masks dropped. Photos of the plane on the tarmac showed damage to at least one window and a chunk missing from the left engine, including part of the engine cover. Sumwalt said the engine will be taken apart and examined to understand what caused the failure. The NTSB sent a team of investigators to Philadelphia. It was the first passenger fatality in an accident involving a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt said one person died, but he gave no details. I'm going to send her a Christmas card, I'm going to tell you that, with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground. That lady, I applaud her,' Tumlinson said. She walked through the aisle and talked with passengers to make sure they were OK after the plane touched down.

Passengers commended one of the pilots for her cool-headed handling of the emergency. He couldn't do it by himself so another gentleman came over and helped to get her back in the plane and they got her.'Īnother passenger, Eric Zilbert, an administrator with the California Education Department, said: 'From her waist above, she was outside of the plane.' 'And the thoughts that were going through my head of course were about my daughters, just wanting to see them again and give them a big hug so they wouldn't grow up without parents.'Īnother passenger, Alfred Tumlinson, of Corpus Christi, Texas, said a man in a cowboy hat rushed forward a few rows 'to grab that lady to pull her back in.

'I just remember holding my husband's hand, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed,' said passenger Amanda Bourman, of New York. The pilot of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard, took it into a rapid descent and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia as passengers using oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling said their prayers and braced for impact. Travelers said fellow passengers dragged the unidentified woman back in as the sudden decompression of the cabin pulled her part way through the opening. One person died and seven others were injured. PHILADELPHIA - A Southwest Airlines jet blew an engine at 32,000 feet and got hit by shrapnel that smashed a window, setting off a desperate scramble by passengers to save a woman from getting sucked out.

Southwest airlines new orleans passenger dies