Page 10 - Sam Stern News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

We came out of the door out of the window rather and just sat down on the wing and slid down the wing. >> did it sound like a regular landing up until the moment that it started to slide? did you hear the thrusters deploy? >> everything seemed normal to me. everything sounded fine. it was just at that moment of impact or that moment of contact, i would say, that we started to lose control. i had no fear. i thought everything was normal until that point. >> the port authority's defending the decision to allow the plane to land at laguardia. obviously a lot of other planes had landed with no app...

Were just clear, they had opened up the runway again for us to clear. i don't think those were the exact words. roxanne can probably tell you better. >> what did they say? >> they announced we were in a holding pattern, then within three to five minutes, announced that we were landing. >> sam, you were sitting in the emergency exit row. after the plane came to a stop you opened the emergency door. what happened? >> they instructed us to open the emergency door. i pulled on the lever and moved it in and another passenger helped me clear the way on the seat. i was the first one out the window go...

Told me -- he was immediately flashing on the plane that went into the river a few years ago and he thought we were going in the water. >> i did, too. >> this is kind of an uncomfortable question to ask, but did you think that this was it? >> yes. i did. i did. >> i'm still in shock. it's really starting to hit me as i watch the footage that you're showing on tv. it was a frightening experience. >> well we are so glad that you're both okay. sam stern and roxanne joffe, thanks for being with us. good luck calming down recovering and everything you need to do. >> thank you. planes land in snow...

>> reporter: the weather conditions we see the snow it's coming down it's sticking to the roads. there are snow removal crews trying to clear the parking lot behind me. they aren't making much progress even with heavy equipment which means it's really slippery even to stand out here right now as well. you can imagine they are working extra hard to keep that one single runway safe for the planes that are trying to take off. >> will ripley with a scary day for passengers at laguardia. thank you so much. joining us now live from new york are two of those passengers. sam stern and his wife roxan...

And as it touched down you couldn't feel any traction on the wheels and it was just like being in a car that started skidding to the left and we quickly realized that the plane, it had no control of the plane. >> how did passengers react, sam? >> it was really -- the passengers it was eerily silent on the plane. there was no noise. it was total silence. >> what were the pilot and crew saying? were they telling people to stay in their seats, to fasten up? >> yeah it took a few minutes, maybe a minute for the stewardesses to stand up. they were very calm but they did indicate that we had to get ...