On Thursday, Ari Schulman had a long and exhausting day. He barely slept the previous night after witnessing a shocking plane crash in the capital that left many around the globe in disbelief.

“It still feels surreal today,” Schulman told YSL News. “I saw a plane in significant trouble trying to regain control; but I didn’t grasp the magnitude of the lives that were lost until later.”

Schulman, an editor at The New Atlantis magazine living nearby the airport, was on his way home when he witnessed something he wishes he could unsee: a plane flying about 100 feet above ground making a sharp turn to the right. He shared his experience in a series of updates on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He recounted seeing sparks fly from the front to the back of the aircraft, lighting up the underside in a bright yellow hue. While he noted he did not see the helicopter, which was carrying three individuals, at that moment, he continued driving.

“I had my head turned for just 2 seconds—I was still driving,” he explained on X. “When I looked back at the road for a moment, then glanced again at the airport a third time, I saw nothing—no plane, no fire, no wreckage, no smoke, no flashing emergency lights. Everything seemed normal. I started to question if I had imagined it.”

Curious about what had occurred, Schulman made a U-turn to check it out but noticed nothing unusual while driving north. After a while, he turned back home and spotted a police car speeding towards the airport, along with flashing lights in the direction he saw the crash.

Abadi Ismali was about to go to bed Wednesday night when he heard a loud noise coming from the south side of Reagan Washington National Airport.

“It was a very strange sound. One you don’t usually hear. It felt more like something out of a war movie,” Ismali told Reuters.

Another witness, Courtney Cain, reported to the Washington Post that while at home at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, she heard the commotion. Looking out her window, she saw a flash and later witnessed emergency responders and helicopters rushing to the crash site.

“I’m honestly still shaking,” Cain shared with the Post, mentioning her 5-year-old son was anxious about the fate of those on board.

Once the news of the crash spread, media requests for eyewitness accounts started to roll in. Schulman recognized that reporters often seek out firsthand narratives of tragic events and made a point to share his experience online before the news could shape his memories.

“You hear from experts how unreliable memory can be, and that it shifts each time it is recalled. I’ve recounted this story so many times that I can feel the impact,” Schulman noted. “I find myself regurgitating the story and that surreal image, which I witnessed for mere seconds, feels increasingly distant and less real.”

Flights resumed at 11 a.m. on Thursday at Reagan airport after being suspended in the aftermath of the crash. President Donald Trump labeled the incident a tragedy and speculated about its potential causes during a press briefing that morning.