LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It’s highly unusual for the victim of a plane crash to be able to tell you all about it just two days later and for that, Nate Richie, a Lafayette High School graduate, is feeling incredibly blessed.
Richie, who moved from Lexington to Florida four years ago, was on board flight 4819, which crashed during landing at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Monday. All 80 people on board survived after the plane rolled to its right side, snapping the wing before coming to a stop upside down.
“Immediately you heard it crash, there was a boom, and we started to barrel roll. And I was slammed against the side of the plane,” Richie said, before going on to say the inside of the regional jet was chaos with people screaming and crying.
While everyone on board survived the impact, Richie knew that they were not out of the woods.
“There was jet fuel running down the windows of the plane. You could smell it, see it. And I thought if we don't get out of here, we're going to die,” he explained.
Richie freed himself by unbuckling his seat belt and because the plane was inverted, he (and many others) slammed into what was now the plane’s ceiling. He was one of 21 people who needed medical attention at a nearby hospital, but he’s since been released – along with 19 others as of this writing.
“I had a lot tests, scans, and X-rays and still more pending,” he said from a pit-stop on the road. Richie is making his way back to Florida, by car.
“I can’t even imagine getting on a plane at this point,” he said. “I don’t know if I ever can.”
Richie snapped a photo of the plane from the tarmac once everyone was off safely and he said he will follow the NTSB’s investigation closely in the coming months. The Lafayette High School graduate said he’s blessed to have been spared along with the others.
“Thankful to be alive. God spared us for a reason. I can’t wait to be reunited with my family,” Richie said.
