A father from Nebraska and his two sons were on their way to a Pokémon Go tournament in Los Angeles when they faced a terrifying incident during a Frontier flight on Friday. The father, John Andsens, 56, experienced sheer panic as the plane’s engine ingested an unidentified individual.
“When the engine exploded, my first thought was, ‘We’re all going to die,’” John recalled, noting how the aircraft nosedived before a loud, bomb-like noise filled the cabin.
His son Jacob, 30, was beside his father and witnessed a shocking scene unfold outside. A human leg was seen spinning inside the engine.
“That’s like a psychological trauma to me,” Jacob remarked about the shocking visual.
The aircraft managed to tilt downward before finally stopping. John and his sons, engulfed in thick black smoke, were instructed by flight attendants to remain seated amidst the chaos. John described the atmosphere: “I think most people didn’t really comprehend what was happening, but then there was this huge explosion. You could hear it, and suddenly everyone was screaming. It felt really scary.”
After everything settled, John paused to take photos of the engine’s gruesome aftermath while Levi, his younger son, assisted fellow passengers in evacuating. Fortunately, the family made it off the plane without serious injury.
They didn’t get much rest that night and ultimately decided to cancel their much-anticipated trip to California due to the flight’s traumatic experience. While Frontier offered John a $500 airline ticket as compensation, he felt it didn’t alleviate the stress they had gone through.
The Pokémon championships they were set to attend were also impacted. John and Jacob had been looking forward to the event at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with Jacob being a highly ranked player excited about competing. “I thought I had a chance to make some noise there,” he said, reflecting on the lost opportunity.
John added, “We were planning to have fun, but that never happened.” Instead of catching another flight, they opted to rent a car and drove for eight hours back to Omaha, Nebraska.
Despite the trauma still hanging over them, the family tried to stay positive. John mentioned a sudden change of plans to go whitewater rafting, joking that it was a way to distract themselves, saying, “We need to think about something other than someone exploding with an engine.”
