By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL suitcases and a Bahamasair mail bag were thrown from a Pineapple Air aircraft on Sunday when the door to the luggage compartment flew open after the flight took off, The Tribune understands.

Ericka Baptiste, one of the passengers on the 15-seater plane, flying from New Providence to San Salvador, said that she and the other passengers were “sure” they were going to die.

Ms Baptiste said it was one of the most “terrifying experiences of her life” and she is offended that Pineapple Air seems to be taking the matter so “lightly.”

“First of all, we thought we were flying with Bahamasair and they did not tell us until we were checking in that we were going on Pineapple Air. They normally do that to us Family Island people so I was used to it. When we got on the plane they didn’t have enough space for the luggage so people’s bags were in the aisle,” she said.

“About 5 - 7 minutes after we took off, we heard a woman scream, we all turned around and saw the luggage door flapping. You could feel something was wrong, the temperature in the cabin changed and we could feel the breeze. Everyone started to panic, children were screaming. We all thought we were going to die. We were in a plane, there was nowhere to go but down. I cannot describe to you the terror we felt. I saw a luggage flying out into the sea, at least two pieces and at this point we were over the water. When the pilot heard the commotion, he turned around very slowly and we came back to Nassau. I must say he did an excellent job keeping the plane balanced.”

Ms Baptiste said to make matter worse, Bahamasair only offered them a free Wendy’s voucher and no one at Pineapple Air ever spoke or apologized to them.

“When we got in the terminal, we were still traumatized, the pilot walked past us and said nothing,” she said.

“We went to the Bahamasair counter and people were still panicking, including me. The manager came out and told us she already knew what happened and she didn’t know what to say to us. She said obviously someone did not shut the door properly and told us we could go and get something to eat while we waited for another plane. That is it. Food, that’s what they gave us. No one from Pineapple Air even bothered to speak to us. I know an apology can’t fix what happened, but it would have been nice to hear them say sorry or something. Then Bahamasair put us on a flight with people from Long Island and sent us to San Salvador like nothing happened around 2pm. They told people who lost bags to fill out a report and they also said they lost one of their mail bags. That’s it. That’s how they treated us.”

Ms Baptiste said she doesn’t think she can fly again for a while after this experience. Representatives from Pineapple Air did not return The Tribune’s phone calls up to press time.

However, when contacted on Sunday, a Pineapple Air employee said there were “no injuries.”