"Surreal" escape: How survivors fled badly damaged Asiana Flight 214

“It was surreal,” Levy told NBC Bay Area, shortly after being taken by ambulance from San Francisco International Airport. “A lot of people screaming and not really believing what has happening to them. I wasn’t believing it either.”…

“I know the airport pretty well, so I realized the guy was a bit too low, too fast, and somehow he was not going to hit the runway on time, so he was too low … he put some gas and tried to go up again,” Levy said. “But it was too late, so we hit the runway pretty bad, and then we started going up in the air again, and then landed again, pretty hard.”

Once the plane had skidded to a halt, “I kind of stood up and went and opened the door,” Levy said. “A piece of the wing was gone. So there was a lot of debris. But I realized we were on the ground.”

Levy started to help other passengers off the plane, trying to keep them calm and telling them not to worry about their bags. The scene in the cabin was chaotic, but not panicked. People were pushing each other out of the plane, he said.