The explosion of a Boeing 737’s jet engines sent a small plane with a flight instructor and a student inside onto its roof this weekend, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“We were scared. We were really scared,” student Kunal Gawli told CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL on Monday. “We asked ourselves, ‘What’s going on?’ »
United Airlines Flight 2611 was waiting to take off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, bound for Chicago, when a Cessna 172 that had just landed passed behind it.
As the commercial plane increased the power of its engines to head toward the runway, wind from the engines caused the smaller plane to roll, according to a report from the pilot inside.
“As soon as we started to turn left to enter the parking lot, we felt a sudden, strong airflow,” instructor Jason Ryu told the affiliate. “At that point we completely lost control and the plane started to roll over.”
Both men remained hanging on their seat belts as other pilots radioed for help.
“You said (the Cessna) flipped over? Is he OK there,” the air traffic controller asked another plane in an audio recording captured by ATC.com.
“They were hit by the explosion of the United 737 jet, then they turned around,” the other pilot replied.
Surveillance video from the flight center shows the plane tilting on its nose and left wing before being pushed forward, eventually flipping completely over.
The 1,400-pound Cessna was operated by the Orange County Flight Center, which offers flight instruction and aircraft rentals.
“Train where the airlines operate,” announces the company’s website. “Unlike remote or uncontrolled airports, John Wayne Airport offers: high-performance runway operations, exposure to air traffic.”
Controllers sent emergency crews to check on the overturned plane, but the pilot and student inside were not injured.
The United 737 landed safely in Chicago two minutes early. The airline declined to comment.
The incident won’t stop Ryu from flying.
“It was definitely a terrifying moment, for sure,” he told KCBS/KCAL. “I have been pursuing this job as my dream since I graduated from college.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating the incident. An initial FAA report describes the damage caused to the small plane as “substantial.”
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