Surprise falls from sky onto Arizona home

MESA, Ariz. --A homeowner here says an emergency slide from a plane onto her house,reports CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV.

A Buddha statue and some angels usually are the only things sitting outside Andrea Self's front door.

"It's definitely a blessing that the damage is (to) a tree and not a person," Self said.

Even though she lives directly under a flight path, the most she ever hears are jet engines.

"It was a loud bang -- and then the house actually shook," Self said.

It's been windy this week but what hit her house Wednesday was anything but a downed tree.

"It just smelled like sulfur burning," she explained.

Mesa police officers responded and did some digging.

"Someone else had called 911 and said that they had seen an object falling from an airplane," Self explained.

It landed right outside Andrea's front door.

"They kind of put two and two together that this must be the emergency slide," Self said.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirms it was. The agency told KPHO an Atlas Air Boeing 767 was on final approach to Sky Harbor Airport when the right over-the-wing emergency escape slide deployed. The plane was at 2,800 feet and was able to land without any trouble. Only the crew was on board.

"Did they hear something? Did the captain know something was going on?" Self asked.

She was concerned that the slide could have hurt people on the ground.

"There's Riverview Park literally in my backyard and the Cubs are currently playing games right now," Self said. "If it had fallen on a car, it still would have been devastating."

The FAA is investigating.