A guy was left astonished when a massive, heavy metal item detached off the wing of a flying passenger jet and crashed in front of him on the pavement.
Craig Donohue, a screener with the Maine Capital Police, was just a few feet away from tragedy when the cylinder exploded in front of him as he stepped outside the door to the Maine state capitol building in Augusta. Two witnesses stared in terror as the aircraft’s metal sleeve rocked the ground at around 12.30 p.m. on Friday; Donohue afterwards informed his wife that he ‘nearly died.’
The Federal Aviation Administration and Augusta State Airport were alerted of the occurrence.
Stunned Donohue said that the item ‘would have left a fairly good mark’ had he walked 10 seconds quicker, since it was’seven or eight pounds coming from the sky unannounced.’
Additionally, he informed DailyMail.com that his coworkers prank-gifted him a hard helmet to defend against potential falling debris.
The FAA suspects that the metal sleeve fell off the wing flap of a big passenger airplane before plunging to the ground in front of Donohue at a high rate of speed. Instantaneously, he heard a ‘loud thud’ and turned to see an item bouncing three or four feet in the air before rolling towards him and stopping at his feet.
He then picked up the strange, greasy item, which he thinks to have fallen from an international airplane due to its size.
Two other individuals on the street heard the item fall and approached Donohue, wondering, “What the heck is that thing?”
Donohue told DailyMail.com that he first assumed the item may have fallen from a space station, but he later abandoned this notion since the cylinder was not ‘heated and melted.’
The father said that he did not trust his coworkers would believe him when he returned to work, so he picked up the item and turned it over to his police unit.
He said that the local airport instructed him to remove the grease and search for a serial number on the device, but he was unable to locate one.
Then, Donohue sent his wife a photo of the item along with the message, “Just so you know, I nearly died.”
Although the occurrence was shocking, Donohue told DailyMail.com, “I’m just glad nothing occurred and nobody was injured.”
FAA officials have visited the accident site once or twice since the incident, according to Donohue, who thinks the huge item was likely from an overseas aircraft.
Everyone advised Donohue to purchase a lottery ticket because of his good fortune, but he quipped that he may have “spent all his luck.”
“The six to seven pound sleeve-like device fell at a high velocity roughly six to eight feet from Capitol Police Screener Craig Donahue, who was strolling outside the gate,” the state’s department of public safety stated in a press statement.
The FAA has begun an inquiry to determine the origin of the component, which is presumably from a big international airplane, according to a press statement.
According to the press release, the FAA sent awareness notices to planes that were above the region at the time of the occurrence.