A man in Davis, California was one of the passengers on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, where a woman was partially sucked out of the window after an engine exploded Tuesday.
Eric Zilbert was returning home to Davis from a trip to New York City with his 89-year-old mother.
“It was a very loud bang, and we were at the point in the trip where you’re just sitting down to read your book, you’re reaching cruising altitude, and you’re just waiting for the drinks,” said Zilbert.
Zilbert told ABC10 he was sitting one row in front of the woman who died.
“As soon as I turned around to see how the plane was, how the fuselage was, where it was broken – I could see that it was the window immediately behind me that had broken – and there was a woman who was partially outside the plane," Zilbert explained.
He says he quickly realized 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan was beyond saving.
“There was nothing anyone can do, and the fact that she was blocking the window was probably saving other people from being taken out of the plane," he added.
According to Zilbert, many passengers panicked when their oxygen masks didn’t inflate.
“A lot of people were very concerned that perhaps they weren’t getting oxygen," he said.
Zilbert said most of the adults near the broken window were calm.
“There was the one woman who saw the very gruesome site, but other than that, I think the passengers did really well, the flight crew did really well, and of course the pilot was amazing,” Zilbert said.
Like many of the passengers on board, Zilbert praised pilot Tammie Jo Shults for the way she handled the emergency landing.
“(She) was doing everything right. There was no smoke, there was no fire. We were descending in a very controlled descent," he said. "Once, we were on the ground, she came out, and she hug and spoke to all of us.”
Zilbert also old ABC10 that after consulting with his attorney, he decided to accept the $5,000 check and $1,000 voucher the airline offered passengers on Tuesday’s flight.
“He said as long as it doesn't have any language that says this is compensation or in any way implying that this was settlement or anything," Zilbert explained.
After Tuesday’s incident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered emergency engine inspections.
“It's sad that a woman had to die for the FAA to say yeah, inspect all these engines now," he said.
On Saturday, Zilbert received the book that he was reading on the plane before the explosion.
“It’s not just any book,” he added. It has a lot of sentimental value because it belonged to his father, and he never thought he’d see it again.
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