The West Coast Eagles were flying high after their second win of the season at Optus Stadium last weekend, but an engine failure on their flight to Melbourne for the next round nearly knocked them back to the ground. .
The team left Perth on Friday afternoon, heading to their clash with the Richmond Tigers at the MCG.
An image from Flight Aware shows the plane on which the West Coast Eagles were landing rapidly near Melbourne. Credit: Flight Aware
But about an hour before their descent into Melbourne, while they were still flying at maximum altitude, they were told that there was a problem with one of the engines and that it had to be shut down.
The live flight tracker shows the aircraft making a rapid descent, from 35,000 feet to 17,000 feet.
A West Coast Eagles spokesman told WA today that no one on the plane had really felt the descent because the pilot had handled the situation well.
“There was a bit of vibration going through the plane and after a few minutes the pilot went through the public address system to tell everyone that the engine on the left had failed, so they were turning it off, ”he said.
“Everyone was fine when we landed and the pilot kept everyone safe and well for the last hour. Everyone was very happy to get on the buses and get to the hotel from there.”
Although the last hour of the flight was stressful, the plane made a safe landing about 15 minutes late.
The Eagles are set for a big game on Sunday, with star Jack Darling to reach his 250-game milestone.