Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley feared he was going to die during a mid-air plane drama.

He was travelling to Atlanta on board Delta Flight 606 on Tuesday afternoon when it blew an engine and dropped altitude.

Although the plane made a successful emergency landing after turning back to L. F. Wade International Airport, Mr. Dunkley — elected nine weeks ago — quipped yesterday: “I thought I would be the shortest-lived Opposition Leader in the history of Bermuda.”

The 49-year-old, who was travelling on personal business, told The Royal Gazette the plane had been in the air for around 25 minutes when it started making a strange noise.

“It started to shudder, there were loud vibration noises and it started dropping in altitude. For a couple of minutes there I was a bit apprehensive. There was not much said. Everyone was real quiet although when it first started there were a few screams and things like that,” he said.

And Mr. Dunkley, a father-of-two added: “I’m glad to be alive today. In the first minute or two I thought there was going to be a real serious issue in the next couple of minutes. I think everyone on the plane felt the same”.

Shortly afterwards, the pilot announced there was a problem and turned back to Bermuda, which was around 100 miles away. Mr. Dunkley believes the return leg was made on just one engine “flying very, very low”. The Boeing 737, which had 81 passengers on board, was met by twelve fire engines from across the Island.

“When it landed everybody broke out into applause,” said Mr. Dunkley, adding that he wished to give “total kudos” to the entire Delta crew for a great job in reassuring the frightened passengers.

Mr. Dunkley’s friend Gerald Goodman, a PGA tour tournament director, was sitting next to him on the flight. “He was much calmer than me. I gasped and I grabbed,” he recalled.

No-one was injured in the incident.