DAYTON — Passengers described the “scary” experience when their plane had to make an emergency landing Monday night.
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Around 7:50 p.m. a United Airlines flight from Charleston, West Virginia was diverted to Dayton International Airport (DAY).
The flight was originally headed to Chicago, Illinois.
Jessica Engstrom and Chris Mitchell were on that flight and described that chaotic scene.
Engstrom said when the plane reached around 30,000ft she and Mitchell began to smell smoke.
“We were just kind of looking at each other like ‘what’s going on?’,” she said.
At first, Engstrom said the flight attendant seemed calm, but that quickly changed.
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“Within a couple of minutes our one flight attendant was running back and forth it looked like to the bathroom because were all the way to the front of the plane,” she said.
A DAY spokesperson confirmed to News Center 7 that the smoke was in the cockpit.
Within minutes the plane began to descend to make an emergency landing at DAY.
Engstrom and Mitchell said they were told they would be evacuating the plane as soon as it landed and not waiting until they arrived at the gate.
“We just both said a prayer that we would be okay and we knew that we would be okay,” Engstrom said.
“Coming down it was a little scary, but after you could tell we were coming in to land everything was fine,” Mitchell said.
Both praised the flight attendant for staying calm and making sure passengers evacuated the plane quickly and safely.
“Phenomenal job,” Mitchell said. “Kudos to her.”
Engstrom and Mitchell said they were given hotel and food vouchers while they looked for another flight to Chicago.
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