BRUNSWICK – Senior Chief Petty Officer Nick Mellos, the flight engineer of the U.S. surveillance plane that collided with a Chinese fighter last month, described the moments after the impact as “20 minutes of the most incredible plane ride I’ve ever had.”

“I’ve spent 8,000 hours in planes, and nothing like this has ever happened to me,” said Mellos, whose 13-year-old son lives in Bath.

Mellos, 45, was stationed at Brunswick Naval Air Station for 15 of his 28 years in the Navy. He spoke about his experience this week with fellow members of the Freemasons from United Lodge 8 in Brunswick.

Mellos now lives in Ypsilanti, Mich.

When the planes hit, the U.S. aircraft began to shake and rattle, and the crew members were pushed to the floor by negative G-force, Mellos said. The five-person flight crew at first considered crash-landing.

But then the navigator announced that there was an airstrip 15 miles away on the island of Hainan, he said.

“We immediately knew that was the right answer, and it would mean all 24 of us would walk off the plane alive,” he said.

Mellos wouldn’t describe exactly what the crew did then, other than to say they prioritized emergencies. Relief swept over him when the plane landed on the ground.

He said the trucks surrounded the plane at the end of the runway. They were led to nearby vehicles by soldiers with AK-47 machine guns – pointed into the air.

The crew members were kept in a hotel room in the capital city of Haikou.