TOPEKA, Kan. — KU Hoops is back on the ground in Lawrence after a mid-air scare Sunday night as the plane the team was flying back from San Jose.
The aircraft lost one of its engines at nearly 30,000 feet.
“I mean the fact that we committed 14 turnovers the first half really didn’t matter much last night or this morning, but it does put things in perspective,” said KU Hoops Coach Bill Self, who also said the loud sound and vibrations of the aircraft’s engine failing rattled the roughly 60 members of KU hoops who were on board.
“We were sitting in the front... right over the engine and obviously it was loud when it went out and then there were people on the plane that actually saw it and we had a couple of players see it as well,” Self said.
Players and all of social media saw it too after cell phone video showing the engine failure from inside the cabin was tweeted out.
@KUHoops plane blows engine on flight back to Lawrence. We just landed safely back in San Jose. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/aAKPcavCUK
— Ryan White (@ryanwhite_01) December 30, 2019
“Just saw there was like sparks coming from one of the wings it was outside the window so that was what we saw,” said KU Hoops player Mitch Lightfoot.
Self told the media on Monday at Forbes Field Terminal in Topeka that in the moments right after the engine failed, everyone got in their seats with belts bucked and there was no conversation.
“They said they all knew something was going on because there was obviously a mood change,” Self said.
Self called the ordeal a nervous time for a short amount of time and said he’s counting his blessings that it was not worse.
“Like I said let’s not make it out to be more than what it was," Self said. "It was a serious situation that the pilots handled perfectly and sat us down without any problem."
