One woman aboard the US Airways flight that came crashing down during an aborted liftoff Thursday evening decided to capture as many moments of the frightening ordeal as possible.
Taking to Twitter and Instagram, passenger Hannah Udren posted a frantic video of herself running away from the smoky plane during the evacuation at Philadelphia International Airport. She also posted several photos, including a "selfie," which shows emergency vehicles and the aircraft, nose-down just yards away behind her.
Udren was one of 149 passengers aboard Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-bound US Airways Flight 1702's scheduled departure at 6:25 p.m. on Thursday.
According to airport officials, the front wheel of the aircraft blew out, causing the front of the plane to crash into the runway.
NBC10 spoke to Udren at Philly International, shortly after the evacuation. She said she just wanted to capture the moment.
“I wanted to show my parents everyone running, and like just what was going on," Udren said.
"Like I’m far enough away, I was one of the first people out of the plane. So, I just took my phone out and I was like OK, I’ll take a video.”
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Since the incident, Udren’s video and photos of the crash landing have been a hot topic on social media.
As of Friday morning, Udren’s "plane crash selfie" had been retweeted nearly 4,000 times and favorited nearly 3,000 times. But comments and replies to the posts revealed mixed reactions among the public.
Some replied to the posts offering well wishes.
@han_horan We're glad you're ok. — Wise Latinas Linked (@wiselatinaslink) March 14, 2014
Others questioned Udren’s decision to take and post the images even while the incident was still unfolding.
It's come to this. First thing you do when you survive a plane crash?? #selfie “@han_horan: so yup pic.twitter.com/emMfvkDVGN” — James Kiernan (@JamesKiernan) March 14, 2014
Otheres came to her defense:
Oh shut up you guys we'd all do this RT @han_horan so yup pic.twitter.com/9ijk5jg6M7 — Scott Bixby (@scottbix) March 13, 2014
While Udren has received a lot of attention for her photo, she is not the first person to take a selfie during an aircraft emergency.
In January, a professor at Georgetown University tweeted photos during an emergency landing. The professor, Shashi Bellamkonda, tweeted multiple photos while he was still aboard the flight, wearing an oxygen mask, and after the flight made a safe landing at an airport in Wilmington, Del.
