Two Air Canada passengers who survived the deadly plane-fire rescue truck collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport described in an exclusive interview with “CBS Mornings” on Thursday the moment of impact and how they helped other passengers escape the plane.Rebecca Liquori recalled getting “very nervous” when they experienced turbulence while their plane was descending Sunday night. “I grabbed her arm, and we were strangers,” Liquori said of Rachel Mariotti, who was sitting next to her on the plane. “I just turned to her and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m just really scared.'”Liquori said Mariotti admitted she was as well and the two comforted each other.”The impact of the firetruck … we didn’t know what was going on. We all flung forward,” Mariotti said. “We were holding on to each other. I was looking out the window … flying forward, looking out the window, are we going to spin out of control? It was scary.”Sitting in the emergency exit row, Liquori and Mariotti then worked together when the plane stopped to remove the exit door on their side and help other passengers get out.”I pulled the door out,” Liquori said. “It was very heavy – so protocol is for you to throw it out the window. I was so panicked. I didn’t remember that part, but I did open the door and Rachel helped me move it out of the way so that all of the passengers on our side could get out.”When they escaped from the plane, Liquori looked back at the wreckage and thought “I’m a walking miracle and God gave me a second chance at life.”Both women are mothers. Liquori has two children, ages 4 and 2. Mariotti has a 3-year-old daughter.”I could have almost not made it home to my boys and my family,” Liquori said. “I was just was happy to go home and I have been smothering them.”As they process what happened, the women are remembering the pilot and co-pilot who were killed in the collision.”These pilots and their faces pop into my head a lot,” Mariotti said.Liquori added she wants to live her life in a way that honors them “because if it wasn’t for their quick actions and thinking, we wouldn’t be able to sit next to you and have this conversation.””So it makes me feel like I need to — the goals that I have, I need to not sit on them,” she said. “Like life is fleeting. The dreams that I want to accomplish, I need to get that done.”For Mariotti, the terrifying experience is also an important reminder.”I’ve heard those exit instructions and I passively pay attention. I’m going to pay attention next time. I remember looking at the stickers on the door … but I wasn’t registering, ‘OK, that’s what I have to do’ and she did it. She did it quickly,” she said of Liquori.
