Shocking Simulation Reveals What Happened To The Woman Who Was Sucked Out Of A Plane Window During A Flight

A chilling simulation has shed light on the tragic event involving a woman who was violently sucked out of a plane window.

In April 2018, during a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Dallas, Jennifer Riordan experienced a horrific incident while the plane was cruising at 32,000 feet.

Riordan, who was the vice president of community relations for Wells Fargo bank, was returning from a business trip in New York City when the Boeing 737 suffered an engine failure.

Following this malfunction, engine parts flew out and shattered the window next to Riordan, causing the cabin to lose pressure and resulting in her being pulled out of the plane. 

The horror incident happened onboard a SouthWest airlines flight. Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Passengers nearby desperately tried to pull her back inside.

For several minutes, Riordan was left hanging halfway out of the window, with other passengers holding onto her legs in an attempt to prevent her from being completely ejected.

A passenger described the scene, noting that Riordan was out of the plane from the waist up. Passengers from several rows behind rushed to help her, as reported by Sky News.

They eventually managed to pull her back into the cabin, performing CPR while they patched up the window. 

Sadly, Riordan had sustained severe head trauma and other injuries, which led to her death. Seven other passengers sustained minor injuries.

While the situation was undeniably terrifying, a YouTube account has now posted a haunting simulation that illustrates what Riordan and the other passengers experienced when she was sucked out of the cabin. 

Riordan sadly died from her injuries following the freak accident. YouTube/Zackdfilms

You can see how devastating it was for Riordan as her head was exposed to winds traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, with her torso and arm dangling in the air.

The simulation also depicts the shock of the engine breaking apart and debris smashing the passenger window, marking the first passenger death in a US airline accident since 2009.

The plane was rerouted to Philadelphia instead of New York. All 143 passengers and five cabin crew members donned oxygen masks as they prepared for an emergency landing.

Upon landing, passengers disembarked onto the tarmac, while firefighters attended to the damaged left engine of the Boeing 737.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel remarked that the passengers performed "some pretty amazing things under some pretty difficult circumstances," as reported by Sky News.

Passenger Alfred Tumlinson also commended pilot Tammie Jo Shults for her efforts in checking on the well-being of all passengers: "She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her."

"I'm going to send her a Christmas card, I'm going to tell you that, with a gift certificate for getting me on the ground."

"She was awesome."

Following the incident, there was an initial investigation, several preliminary findings, and a number of investigative hearings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with the final report released on November 19, 2019.

The report outlined the probable cause of the accident: "The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines that the probable cause of this accident was a low-cycle fatigue crack in the dovetail of fan blade No. 13, which resulted in the fan blade separating in flight and impacting the engine fan case at a location that was critical to the structural integrity and performance of the fan cowl structure."

"This impact led to the in-flight separation of fan cowl components, including the inboard fan cowl aft latch keeper, which struck the fuselage near a cabin window and caused the window to depart from the airplane, the cabin to rapidly depressurise and the passenger fatality."