'We Thought It Was Going To Explode' Fans On Way To ALCS At Fenway Talk About Houston Plane Crash

HANSCOM (CBS) – The National Transportation Safety Board has started gathering clues from the plane that crashed in Houston, carrying fans on their way from Texas to the American League Championship Series in Boston.

In an exclusive interview with CBS sister station KHOU in Houston, passengers shared details of the crash.

"One pilot pulled up on the, whatever you call it, the steering wheel, and it wouldn't go up, so the other one did," the passenger who wanted to remain anonymous said. "This is what the pilots told me and it wouldn't go up so they tried to stop it and there just wasn't enough runway left."

"Going down the runway and all of a sudden they slammed on the brakes," the passenger said. "Things were flying around, and when it finally came to a stop, they told us to get out, get out."

All 21 people on board, including the crew, escaped when the plane stopped.

"We unbuckled ourselves and ran. Because we thought it was going to explode. It was already on fire before we got out of it," the passenger said.

Even officials were stunned.

"We want to know ourselves we have a group of survival experts, cuz obviously it's a big deal we have no fatalities," said an NTSB official.

The NTSB was at the crash site examining how the MD87 plane failed to take off from the Houston Executive Airport on Tuesday.

The owner of the plane, J. Alan Kent, said the plane ran out of runway. "Thankfully, everyone used the emergency slides to exit and make it to safety before a fire consumed the plane. There was a minor injury sustained by a passenger going down the slide but thank God that there was no loss of life."

Kent said he will cooperate with the investigation.