Marshall, Minnesota man recounts Delta Air Lines crash
Minnesotan Delta passenger tells crash story
A man from southwest Minnesota was on Delta flight 4819 that crashed in Toronto earlier this week. FOX 9’s Maury Glover spoke with him about the traumatic experience, and a potential lawsuit ahead.
MARSHALL, Minn. (FOX 9) - John DeVos says watching passengers take care of each other in such a chaotic situation was the silver lining of a traumatic experience.
Frequent flyer
What we know:
John Devos flies to Toronto at least once a month for work.
But Monday's flight was unlike any he has taken before.
"Grateful I'm alive. Grateful for the outpouring of support. I can't believe we walked away from that," said DeVos.
World turned upside down
The backstory:
DeVos says other than the Delta Air Lines jet being delayed getting out of Minneapolis, the flight was normal, until it was on its final descent.
He says he felt the plane land hard, then start sliding down the runway and flip over, leaving the passengers hanging upside down.
"We turn over. It gets chaotic. A lot of screaming. I kind of looked across the aisle. My aisle mates were upside down as well. I just kind of thought 'This is how I'm going to die,'" said DeVos.
Silver lining
What they're saying:
DeVos says after taking a moment to realize they were still alive, the passengers around him helped each other get off the plane quickly because they could smell jet fuel.
Despite everything that happened, DeVos drove to Detroit with a co-worker and got on another plane the next day to fly home to Minnesota, where he was reunited with his wife, Stephanie.
"To me, it was important to kind of get back on and just kind of prove to myself that it was going to be okay," said DeVos.
DeVos says it wasn't until he saw video of the actual crash that he realized how bad it was, but he says the experience won't keep him from flying in the future.
"It was a really bad situation but good prevailed," said DeVos.