Monday afternoon on the way to Houston for a game against the Rockets tonight, the Pistons plane ‘Roundball One’ had to make an emergency landing as there was an issue with the left-side landing gear getting jammed.
TV station KHOU 11 reported that personnel was alerted because an alarm was sounded, signaling the hydraulic issue.
But Grigg said it was a precaution and everyone was safely at the team hotel. Passengers weren’t even aware there was a problem until they were greeted by emergency vehicles.
A Houston Airport System spokesman says the crew of MD-80 displaying the Pistons team logo reported problems with the hydraulics operating the aircraft’s left-side landing gear and declared an emergency.
Airport spokesman Joshua Agunag says the aircraft with 44 passengers aboard landed without incident at 5:45 p.m. Monday and was able to taxi to a private air terminal, where passengers were let off. [via]
Although it sounds like everyone is fine, you can never be too careful with these things. Sports like hockey and football have both had their devastating stories in the past of team planes that have crashed killing multiple members of a team, which have raised questions many times over the years about whether or not team’s should travel together on one plane.
Logistics (especially in a lockout shortened NBA season) don’t always allow teammates to travel separately or in small packs, so we can all be grateful that the Pistons arrived without any major issues. As for their plane “Roundball One” it took its first flight for the team on September 11, 2010 and should be able to continue operation immediately following some mechanical precautions and inspections are complete.
