A bicyclist said Friday that authorities planned to investigate if a metal object that fell from the sky and landed about three feet away from her could have been from a JetBlue airplane that made an emergency landing in Long Beach the previous day.
Cindy Gilbert was riding her bicycle near Pacific Coast Highway and Magnolia Street in Huntington Beach (map) Thursday when she said a square-metal object came out of the sky.
“I kind of saw something come out of my peripheral vision … and then I heard a noise, boom, and I thought, what is that? First I thought somebody threw something to hit me,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert, unaware of an emergency landing that was happening in Long Beach around the same time, brought the object home to show to friends and family.
A JetBlue airplane headed to Austin, Texas, from Long Beach had turned back due to an emergency with one of the plane’s engines after being in the air for about 15 minutes, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Smoke filled the plane’s cabin and the pilot “initiated an extinguishing agent,” Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Jake Heflin said.
Gilbert’s son investigated the mysterious metal object his mother brought home and believes it is a flap found on airplanes that opens up to release heat from the engine.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said the flap may have failed to open and flew off the plane, according to Gilbert. FAA officials planned to investigate the object’s origins.
Gilbert said she was thankful the object did not hit her.
“Absolutely feel very blessed, very lucky, just like the people in the airplane. It was by God’s grace that we all came out just fine because it could have hit me,” she said.
