I woke up on the morning of March 5, 2023, filled with excitement. I had gifted my mom an introductory flight lesson for Christmas, and we were finally about to make the most of it. We were both adventurous people, and I prefer to give experience gifts rather than material gifts to people.
We had already been in a helicopter and done a skydive, so taking a flying lesson was our next milestone. My mom, Roma Gupta, 63, picked me up from my apartment in Jersey City that morning and we drove out to the airport in Long Island together. We were very excited for the day because we were supposed to have dinner with my new boyfriend, Joe, afterwards so she could get to know him.
When we got to the airport, we met the pilot and everything seemed fine. We were both given the opportunity to sit up front with the pilot and get a feel for what it’s like to fly the aircraft. I went up front first, and everything went great.
We flew out over the ocean, and I took in the beautiful scenery. I remember looking back at my mom and saying, "isn’t this so cool?" Once we landed back at the airport, my mom and I switched seats so she could take her turn in the front. We took off again, and it was all going well.
Shortly after we took off again, I began to notice smoke billowing up from underneath my mom’s seat. I instantly alerted the pilot, and he called in a mayday as we headed back to the airport. But then my seat became very hot, and I saw flames coming from where I originally saw the smoke coming from.
I turned to my side and tried to kick the flames out. It felt like that was all I could do. Within moments, my seat became too hot to sit in.
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