Actor MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY was the first to call his former lover SANDRA BULLOCK after hearing about the actress' airplane horror last month (DEC00) - because he knew how shaken she'd be.

The two-seater plane the actress was a passenger in with boyfriend BOB SCHNEIDER was wrecked when it skidded from the runway in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, America, just before Christmas (DEC00). And McConaughey admits for once the press played down the accident.

He says, "Previous to this I've never met anyone more fearful of flying than Sandra. I was like, 'Why did it happen to her?' I called her. "It was a close call. She said, 'It was much worse than what was reported - we just skidded off the runway. Huh, I'll show you the pictures.'" (KL/WNV/CPT)

Source: WENN