LEWISTON – Ray Turcotte walked away from his ill-fated airplane trip in February with a sore arm.

Considering it came from his nervous wife, Pat, clutching him and not anything more serious, that’s just fine.

“Actually, it was the smoothest landing ever,” Ray said. “You’d never know anything was wrong.”

But something was. The Lewiston couple were among hundreds of passengers on a Delta DC-10 flying from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta when it lost an engine.

“Everything was fine, then there was a loud bang,” he said. That was followed by a deep shudder along the entire plane and the strong smell of airplane fuel and smoke.

“Then the flight attendant ran up to the front,” Pat said. “I don’t think I’ve every seen anyone move that quickly.”

The pair were wrapping up a February vacation trip that included a 10-day cruise through the Panama Canal and back. It was a calm, peaceful and enjoyable trip. They figured the most exciting part was being in port in Costa Rica at the same time a tour bus there was being held hostage.

“But we didn’t hear about that while we were on land,” he said. “They waited until we were back underway. You never hear any bad news on a cruise ship.”

They returned to Fort Lauderdale tanned, rested and ready for their trip back to Maine. They’d catch a DC-10 flight to Atlanta, then board a smaller plane for the trip back to Portland.

The best thing Ray would say about the flight to Atlanta was that they landed early. Airports tend to make room for your plane when it has a mechanical failure.

“We didn’t have any trouble making our connection,” he said. “We had plenty of time. Plenty of time.”

Ray figures the plane was about 15 minutes away from Atlanta – flying at 31,000 feet, according to Pat’s notebook – when the engine popped. The flight attendant soon appeared at the front of the plane with members of the cockpit crew. They moved some of the passengers aside to get a look at the left-side engine.

“They couldn’t see it from the front of the plane, and they just wanted a better view,” he said. Ray had the window seat over the left wing, and he couldn’t see anything – no smoke, flames or apparent problems.

Pat said she had a death-grip on Ray’s arm as the plane continued to shudder.

“I know I cut off his circulation,” she said.

But the crew seemed to get the plane under control. Then the pilot came over the PA system.

“He was cool as a cucumber, like he did this kind of thing everyday,” Ray said. The DC-10 was given landing priority, the pilot said, and they were starting to make their descent.

They landed safely a few minutes later.

“You wouldn’t know there was a problem, except for all the firetrucks and ambulances lining the sides of the runway,” he said. They weren’t needed, and the plane taxied immediately to the mechanics’ area. The passengers unloaded quickly and were on their way.

“You know how people usually take their time to get all their stuff?” Ray said. “Not this time.”

It was all he could do to convince Pat to board the next airplane to bring them back to Maine.

“I kept telling him, ‘Rent a car. Rent car.'” Pat said. But Ray wasn’t convinced. He couldn’t imagine driving all the from Georgia to Maine.

“Flying is still the safest way to travel,” he said.