The pilot was forced to make a landing in Cold Bay, Alaska. That's near the Aleutian Islands. Passengers had to wait 10 hours for a replacement jet.
The delayed reunion at SFO was a happy one for Caitlin and Baber Amin of Sunnyvale. Baber was flying home after spending a week in Malaysia and Singapore for business.
Delta Flight 208 from Tokyo had to make an emergency landing in the remote town of Cold Bay. He texted Caitlin, who didn't get worried until she heard some of the details of what happened.
"About the engine failure and then the lights going out before they landed and there was a whole heap of extra drama that went on," she said. "And the pilot, I just want to give him a big hug. He was awesome. He saved the day."
A Delta spokesperson says the unscheduled landing came after crewmembers received an engine warning message in the cockpit. But at no point was the engine shut down in flight.
Josh Hinz of Danville was also on the flight.
"In flight you could feel it kind of shimmy, made some noise, I kinda dosed off in between," he said. "The captain came on and announced that we were turning toward Alaska and we would land in about an hour."
Once they landed, the passengers were able to pass the time at a local watering hole.
Baber took a picture for his wife. Both are extremely thankful for the pilot.
"He's a veteran, 20 plus years, he did a good job," Baber said.
A great job getting all 167 passengers and 11 crewmembers onboard back on the ground safely.
