American Airlines passengers feared for their lives Thursday when a bird slammed into the engine of their departing LaGuardia flight, forcing the plane to quickly make an emergency landing at the city’s other airport.
Flight 1722 took off from LGA just after 7:20 p.m. and was scheduled to land at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina less than two hours later – but the plane barely made it past the coast of Long Island before being diverted and forced to land at JFK International Airport, according to flight radar.
A bird struck an engine of the Airbus A321, causing severe damage that rendered the right propeller completely useless, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
The plane – then powered only by its secondary engine – landed safely and without incident at JFK, the Port Authority said.
A surreal video, filmed by a passenger, shows the moment the bird is sucked into the plane’s engine.
The clip posted to
Passengers on the grounded flight told the Post they saw flames and thought the worst as they waited for their bags outside a baggage carousel at JFK’s Terminal 8.
“I thought I was going to die,” said Amy Stamper, of Tennessee.
“I was scared. I thought I was going to die. There were a few small explosions. And there was a fire,” Stamper said in disbelief.
Another passenger, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed similarly dire feelings.
“I was right next to the wing and I saw him. I saw two flames in the sky… I thought I was going to die. I prayed. I thought I was going to die for about 30 seconds,” the man said.
Eric Halili, 43, was also shaken by the robbery gone wrong.
“I think it was a very traumatic experience and what made it worse was that we had to wait over an hour to get our luggage,” Halili lamented.
“You just wanted the day to end and it just didn’t.”
Halili, who was visiting New York for work, said he “absolutely” feared for his life.
The father of two told the Post that his children and wife were all he thought about in the moments he thought Flight 1722 might crash.
“That’s the first thing that came to my mind: not being able to go home,” Halili said somberly.
Halili, who was holding a bag of treats from Junior’s Cheesecake, said he was disappointed he couldn’t bring his wife the treats Thursday night.
Misleidy, 26, was returning home to Florida via Charlotte after honeymooning in New York with her newly minted husband and found herself on the plane diverted by a twist of fate.
“I actually missed my first plane. This is the second one,” she told the Post. “This is what God had in store.”
“There were people who were afraid. I was a little scared… It was a bit like a car was going to backfire. It’s moving a little bit,” Misleidy said. “At first I didn’t think much about it. But then I saw other people [reacting] around me and thought, “This could be bad.”
The grateful passenger, who provided only her first name, said American Airlines flight attendants did a good job calming the distressed travelers.
No injuries were reported following the incident, American Airlines said in a statement.
The flight to Charlotte is scheduled to depart Friday morning and customers were provided with hotel accommodations for the night, according to the airline.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not respond to The Post’s request for comment at the time of publication.
