Columbia man says emergency landing ‘surreal’
A Columbia man described the emergency landing Sunday of a flight heading to Chicago as a “surreal” experience.
“I texted both of my kids and I said ‘we have an emergency on a plane I’m on and I just want you both to know I love you’,” said Guy Hulen, a passenger on the Skywest flight to Chicago that was diverted to Bloomington.
Skywest is a regional carrier for United Airlines, which operates several flights per day to and from Columbia.
Hulen said the pilot told passengers the plane had a “serious problem” with its engine and “one of the thrusters was stuck.”
Hulen said the plan was to divert the plane to Peoria, Illinois, but bad weather forced it to land in Bloomington, Illinois.
“It didn’t seem to be stable,” Hulen said. He described the plane as feeling “wobbly” during the flight.
A flight attendant told passengers to prepare for a crash landing.
“Hearing that and seeing the look on her face,” he said. “Her hands were trembling.”
Emergency landings involving planes flying to or from Columbia Regional Airport are not common, but they do happen. In the past two years, ABC 17 News has reported on three incidents involving diverted flights from the Columbia Regional Airport, including the one Sunday night.
In February a plane was diverted to Columbia Regional Airport because of an avionics problem and a small plane landed at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport in November after it was diverted from Columbia.
Data on diverted flights isn’t easily available from the Federal Aviation Administration — getting such information requires a Freedom of Information Act request, an FAA spokesman said. Such requests can take weeks to fill.
The FAA’s website includes links to data for more serious events, however.
According to information posted by the National Transportation Safety Board, planes flying to or from Columbia have been in one fatal accident, nine non-fatal accidents and two other incidents since 1995.
Federal regulators consider a reportable accident one in which a person dies or suffers serious injury or in which the aircraft suffers substantial damage. Also according to the NTSB, an incident is “an occurrence other than an accident that affects or could affect the safety of operations.”
After the plane landed, Hulen said every passenger hugged the pilot and flight attendant as they left. Hulen said United sent another plane to pick up the remaining passengers but about 15 passengers decided to drive the rest of the way to Chicago.
Hulen said passengers hugged the pilot and flight attendant as they left the plane. United sent another plane to pick up the remaining passengers, but about 15 passengers decided to drive the rest of the way to Chicago, he said.
Listen to the audio and pictures Hulen provided below:
