Padres Pitcher Mike Clevinger Describing His Terrifying Near Plane Crash This Past Week

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“We were up at like 30,000 feet elevation, the light comes on to move about the cabin,” Clevinger said. “And then next thing you know we’re nose diving hard and the air pressure drops in the cabin. The A/C turns off. The captain goes on yelling. The oxygen masks come down, (the captain yells), ‘Put your oxygen masks on! Put your oxygen masks on!’ We’re (stomachs) in our throat for 25, 30 seconds. I thought we were just going to the ground, dead. And then we get to like around 5,000-feet elevation. That’s when he starts doing swirls, and he comes back on and he’s like, ‘Folks, we’re gonna try to make an emergency landing in Tucson.’ ”

Clevinger said the passenger next to him was knowledgeable about planes and explained the swirls the plane was doing were to slow down. Smoke filled the cabin, and Clevinger said he could clearly hear only one engine was working.

“The guy next to me is trying to keep me calm,” he said. “I’m freaking out. … He’s keeping his chill while everyone is crying and freaking out. The flight attendant was crying. Like, she had no bedside manner at all.”

In the time he was virtually certain was the end, Clevinger said he attempted to text his fiancé and mother but “couldn’t get the texts out. I couldn’t type. I was, like, frozen.” Clevinger said the plane flew at a low altitude for a half-hour and landed in Tucson. American Airlines confirmed the flight Clevinger was on was diverted to Tucson for a possible mechanical issue.

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