Flight B6369 to Fort Lauderdale left Logan Airport at 8:24 p.m. Tuesday and was diverted to Raleigh-Durham International Airport, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
David Wohlman and his girlfriend, Tracy Cassidy, were passengers on what was supposed to be a nonstop flight.
“Approximately two hours into it, the pilot comes on and says, ‘Hold on,’ ” and warned everyone that they were about to go through “considerable turbulence … because we’ve lost hydraulics,” Wohlman said in a phone interview Thursday.
“We’re turning to the left, turning to the right, we’re dipping,” he said. “Then he comes back and says, ‘We’ve lost all of our hydraulics, and we’re going to have to make an emergency landing.’ ”
Wohlman said the turbulence happened while the plane was over the water.
“I’ve never been on a plane that frightened me so badly,” Wohlman said. “It was very, very scary.”
When the plane landed around 11 p.m., there were fire trucks, ambulances, and a hazmat team “waiting for us to arrive,” Wohlman said.
Wohlman estimated there were 90 people on the plane. They got on a bus that brought them to a gate, he said. Passengers had to wait hours without food, water, blankets, or pillows for the airline to bring another plane in from New York to take them to Florida, he said.
JetBlue could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, a Boston-bound American Airlines flight had to “slam on the brakes to avoid a potential collision” with another plane at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, according to CBS Boston.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, according to Ethan Klapper, a spokesperson for American Airlines.
“The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we’re grateful to our crew for their professionalism,” Klapper said by email. “We will support the FAA in its investigation.”
FAA officials could not be reached for comment.