LAKE MEAD -- An emergency landing occurred at Lake Mead after a bird slammed into a helicopter.

The pilot suffered lacerations to his face. Six passengers were not hurt.

FOX5 obtained an exclusive interview with those on board the chopper that was flown out of McCarran Airport.

The passengers were all shaken up just moments after landing, and they called the pilot a hero.

A goose slammed into the helicopter’s left windshield, and Plexiglas shattered everywhere.

One passenger said everyone was covered in blood.

The six passengers were from London taking a trip out to the Grand Canyon when the bird came out of nowhere.

"I thought I was going to die,” said one passenger

“Eerie, eerie silence ... I thought this was it," said another passenger.

The pilot, with injuries to his face, circled over the lake and then made a solid landing.

"No injuries and quite a story to tell when they head home," said Alex Munoz, of National Park Services.

“The pilot was excellent. He's our hero," said a passenger.

Everyone said they were grateful to be out of the sky and survivors.

The pilot has multiple stitches to seal up his wounds.