MIAMI – A woman who survived a plane crash with her husband Sunday said it felt like they were moving in slow motion as they tried to escape the fiery wreckage.
Sonia McKenzie, 50, was treated at Broward Health North after the small plane her husband was flying crashed Sunday in the Florida Everglades while he attempted to make an emergency landing.
"As soon as we touched down there (were) orange and red flames everywhere," Sonia McKenzie told Local 10 News on Monday. "He jumped out. He reached back to grab my hand, and my headset caught me, and I ripped that off, and then he went back again for me and pulled me out."
Sonia McKenzie said they stumbled across the rocks and jumped into the nearby canal.
"We didn't know if we were on fire or the plane was going to explode," she said.
Kenneth McKenzie, who turned 53 Monday, was taken to the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where his wife said he is still recovering. Sonia McKenzie and the couple's daughters brought the pilot balloons and a birthday cake to celebrate with him inside his hospital room.
Sonia McKenzie said her husband was "overwhelmed and thankful to be alive."
The couple's plane crashed shortly after they took off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
A woman from the airport's tower called 911 and said the plane had gone down near Coral Springs, "about a mile and a half north of where the Sawgrass bends."
"We don't know if he's in the road or in the Everglades or anything," the caller said. "We lost contact with him."
LISTEN: Full 911 call
The caller told the dispatcher that Kenneth and Sonia McKenzie were the only people on board and that the plane had six hours of fuel left.
"I knew it was going to be OK," Sonia McKenzie said. "If it was our time, it was going to be our time, and apparently it's not."
She said they first noticed there was a problem about five to seven minutes after takeoff.
"As we were touching down, crashing down, and orange and red flames came up all around, I thought, 'Oh, this is how it feels before you die,'" she said.
Kenneth McKenzie is a former Canadian military pilot and the former chief operating officer of Spirit Airlines. Sonia McKenzie credits her husband's many years of flying experience, his calm demeanor and a higher power for escaping.
"We just look at each other and say how much we love each other," she said.
Kenneth McKenzie suffered burns on the left side of his body. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Meanwhile, Sonia McKenzie said she is working on getting her pilot's license as well and has a scheduled solo flying session next week that she still plans on attending.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash.
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