Plane forced to make emergency landing in NY after bird destroys engine: ‘I thought I was gonna die’

Flying is already a stressful experience under the best of circumstances, but freak accidents like this add a whole new layer of fear to the experience.

Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight departing from LaGuardia Airport experienced the shock of their lives after a bird was sucked into the aircraft’s engine, completely destroying it.

Watch:

An American Airlines flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte was forced to turn around after a reported bird strike caused damage to the plane’s engine. @RhiannonAlly reports. pic.twitter.com/NjOT6wIUhV

— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 13, 2024

The video shows the moment the bird entered the engine.

The plane, scheduled to land at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, was immediately forced to divert and land at the JFK International Airport while powered entirely by the only remaining engine.

Speaking to the New York Post, passenger Amy Stamper from Tennessee described the terrifying moment she believed she was going to “die.”

“I thought I was gonna die,” she said. “I was scared. I thought I was gonna die. There were a couple of small explosions. And there was a fire.”

A male passenger expressed similar sentiments.

“I was right by the wing and I saw it. I saw two flames in the sky … I thought I was gonna die. I prayed. I thought I was gonna die for about 30 seconds,” he said.

Eric Halili revealed the nightmare didn’t end after the plane landed.

“I think that was a very traumatic experience and what made it worse was that we had to wait over an hour to get our bags,” he explained. “You just wanted the day to end and it just didn’t end.”

He added that his first fear was that he wasn’t going to make it home to his wife and children, “That was the first thing that came into my mind — not being able to come home to them.”

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