When Barbara Underwood saw the fire exploding on the plane’s starboard engine during her United Airlines flight to Hawaii on Saturday, she could only think of one thing to do.
“I went back to texting and said my last goodbye to our children. Now we didn’t know what was going to happen. It was very scary, ”the Kauai woman told Hawaii News Now.
Underwood was flying with her husband from Denver to Honolulu on United Flight 328 when the terrible incident started to unfold, she told the agency.
She was looking out the window when she noticed that the engine seemed to be shaking.
“And then, while I was looking at it, it just exploded,” she said of the doomed starboard engine.
“And that ring around flew and started to smoke. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know what’s going to happen next,’ ”she said.
Most people on board didn’t even seem to realize what had happened, she said.
After the compromised ship returned to the airport, most people on the flight simply boarded a new United plane and continued their journey to Honolulu, United said in a statement late Saturday.
Those who did not want to travel received accommodation in hotels.
The airline said it is working with federal agencies investigating the incident.