Delta Crash Passenger Nate Richie Gives Play-By-Play On Wreck From Inside Plane

TMZ

He gives us a play-by-play account of the doomed landing ... and says he thought his life was over when he was hanging upside down in the plane with jet fuel wafting through the air and running down the windows.

Transcript

00:00The flight was really uneventful. I don't remember any turbulence. I was just reading a book, you know, enjoying the flight.

00:10As we were coming in for a landing, you know, I put my book by my side and started talking to the gentleman sitting next to me.

00:18And there was no indication of any issues, which really probably were not any issues at that time.

00:24But once we hit the runway, we hit really hard. And, you know, I've been on planes that hit hard before, it kind of jolts you a little bit.

00:32But this time it was different because once it hit, you could feel the plane start wobbling and start to slide sideways.

00:42I remember thinking, we're not staying on the runway, and I looked out my window.

00:46And I remember just thinking, there's a lot more snow on this runway than what I would expect.

00:52And, you know, and all this is taking place obviously in split seconds.

00:57And at that time, the plane started to roll over.

01:02And it was just loud, you know, screaming, crying, you know, you'd hear the boom.

01:12And it was almost like a very surreal time.

01:19I remember seeing, you know, things flying around as I was slammed between the side of the plane and the gentleman next to me.

01:27That seemed to go on for quite some time until we came to a stop.

01:33And at that point, we were inverted.

01:36And so we're all dangling from our seats.

01:39We had the seatbelts.

01:41And we had to, there's only one way, Devin, to get down.

01:45That was to release your buckle and to fall onto what was previously the ceiling is now the floor.

01:53At this point, Devin, the smell of the jet fuel was so strong.

01:59And you could see it running down the windows of the plane and pooling up outside the plane.

02:05And it's at that moment that I was pretty sure we were going to die, that this was it, that we were not going to escape this crash.

02:15So eventually, the doors were opened, and we were able to start exiting the plane.

02:20And just one by one, getting off the plane, you know, the whole time just praying and thinking about my wife, my kids, if I could see them again.

02:33Just not knowing how this was going to end.

02:38Almost off the plane, I remember stopping and looking at the plane and saying, this isn't normal.

02:48This isn't normal.

02:49It's really cold, 10 degrees, 15.

02:52I don't know what it was out there.

02:54It was freezing.

02:55We didn't have our jackets.

02:57And we huddled around this fire truck to try to keep each other warm.

03:02And we weren't over there very long before there was an explosion on the plane.

03:07And appeared to be backed by the back door, which is the door I exited from.

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