A reality TV star sitting in the first row of the Delta plane that skidded off the runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport during landing on Thursday said she knew something was wrong as soon as the plane made contact with the runway and she couldn’t feel the brakes take hold.
“It started to really shake and bump and oxygen masks were falling and it’s at that moment your mind starts going, ‘this is really not the way it’s supposed to happen,’” Jaime Primak Sullivan, star of the Bravo reality show "Jersey Belle,” told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday.
The jet with 127 passengers on board crashed into a fence during snowy conditions, resting on an embankment just a few feet from the icy waters of Flushing Bay. About two dozen people reported minor injuries and three were taken to the hospital, officials said.
Primak Sullivan, who is a frequent flyer and says she feels safe on planes, said as the jet "was sliding for thousands of feet" she was terrified it might slam into another jet or the airport. Once it stopped she saw the rocks and the water.
“It’s at that moment that you think what happens if the plane goes into the water? Do planes sink? Do they float?” Primak Sullivan said, her voice breaking. “Will I ever see my kids again?”
The plane smashed through the fence and passengers had to climb out onto a wing to exit the plane to safety.
“The pilots did everything they could but it’s not different than a car losing control on ice, except we were going hundreds of miles an hour,” Primak Sullivan said.
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Primak Sullivan said she held her emotions together until she saw the pilot walk out of the cockpit.
“I looked right at him, and he looked right at me and I sort of came unglued at that moment,” she said. “His only concern was for his passengers. He walked right up to me and put his arm around me and said I’m going to get you off this plane. And he did."
Giants tight end Larry Donnell was also on the flight; he posted images and video to Instagram and shared the media with NBC 4 New York.
The plane was moved to a hangar, where the investigation into the skid continues. Photos obtained exclusively by NBC 4 New York show heavy damage to one of the plane's wings, and the front of the fuselage appears to be crumpled from the impact.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending an investigator to retrieve the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders and to document damage to the plane. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating.
In a statement Friday, Delta Airlines said it worked through the night to return passengers' belongings and was fully cooperating with the NTSB. The airline said it could not comment further.
"In the meantime, Delta has refunded each customer the full price of their airfare and remains in touch to assist customers with any other immediate needs," the statement said.
An earlier version of this story misspelled Jaime Primak Sullivan's last name. It has been corrected.
