In his new memoir, An American Story: Everyone’s Invited, NCIS star Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Special Agent Nicholas Torres, shares a harrowing account of a terrifying plane incident that nearly made him reconsider his Hollywood career.
Valderrama, now 44, recounts flying back to Hollywood from New Orleans after the Super Bowl with his That 70s Show co-stars Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, and actor Colin Hanks. The flight took a dangerous turn during a severe winter storm, leaving everyone on board shaken.
“A winter storm rages across the skies, and the mood on board is shaky,” Valderrama writes. He describes the plane suddenly pitching violently, both horizontally and vertically, causing oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling. “I’m feeling lightheaded. It’s getting hard to breathe,” he recalled, questioning whether the turbulence had triggered the masks or if something more serious was happening.
As the cabin filled with carbon monoxide due to a malfunctioning oxygen valve, Valderrama noticed the pilot wearing a full air force mask. He shared a smaller mask with Kutcher, while Masterson had his own. “Colin clutches the armrests with a death grip. Ashton’s jaw has dropped to his lap… Our plane is going down,” Valderrama wrote.
At one point, Masterson reported losing feeling in his arm, heightening the panic. The actor also recalls a moment of dark humor, joking that if they crashed, “Ashton’s gonna wonder who to eat first. It’s probably gonna be me, because he loves Latin American food.”
Despite the life-threatening ordeal, the plane eventually landed safely. “We let out a cheer, but it feels like a lifetime has just passed,” Valderrama wrote, describing the unsettling relief that followed. The incident left him questioning his future in acting. “What if my life had ended that day?” he pondered, reflecting on the importance of living in the moment while preparing for what’s next.
Despite the scare, Valderrama chose to continue his career. He recently spoke about how he’d like his NCIS character, Nick Torres, to eventually leave the show, imagining a dramatic, heroic exit. “Like Denzel Washington in Training Day—just go out,” Valderrama said. “But defending my family, in a storm of bullets, dying heroically with violins in the background and rain pouring down.”
Interestingly, this wasn’t the only plane scare for his co-star Ashton Kutcher. In 2009, Kutcher’s plane made an emergency landing after the engines overheated and caught fire. Kutcher tweeted about the incident, expressing relief to be alive and ready to celebrate.
