A charter jet carrying the Utah Jazz NBA team, which included Joe Ingles of Australia, had to make an emergency landing on Tuesday (local time).
The Delta flight had to make a forced landing at Salt Lake City airport after hitting a flock of birds shortly after takeoff.
Flightradar24, a website that monitors air traffic around the world, said that the aircraft appeared to have an issue with its left engine.
Shortly after takeoff, #DL8944, Salt Lake City-Memphis, returned to SLC due to what seemed to be an issue with the left engine.
The Boeing 757-200 aircraft is powered by PW2037 engines. One of the dedicated charter 757s operated by Delta.
The Jazz were traveling to Memphis on the charter flight in order to play the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
“Fortunately, the jet landed safely,” a Jazz official told USA Today.
“Everybody is shaken, but they’re okay.”
Later, Delta released a statement that acknowledged the occurrence but refuted the claim that the flight was a Jazz charter.
The search for a new plane for its “clients” was verified by Delta.
The statement added, “The airplane struck a flock of birds as it was taking off.”
The pilot declared an emergency and turned around to head back to Salt Lake International Airport after the left engine shut down.
Without any problems, the plane landed, and it was able to taxi back.
Delta Airlines is searching for a different aircraft to transport its passengers to their destinations.
Utah Jazz players express gratitude for narrow escape
Several Jazz players expressed their gratitude for the secure landing on social media.
“GOD is good,” tweeted Royce O’Neale shortly after the news was announced.
Donovan Mitchell only used the praying hand emoji when tweeting.
The day is lovely, Rudy Gobert tweeted.
The Jazz will play the Grizzlies on Wednesday on a five-game winning run.
Utah defeated Cleveland Cavaliers at home 114-75, marking their eighth straight victory and biggest margin of victory thus far.
Even though Mitchell only played 25 minutes on Monday, he has scored frequently since the All-Star break.
He has scored 29.2 points on average while shooting 50% from the field and 46.3 percent from beyond the arc in Utah’s previous ten games.
Mitchell asserted that “I think my film career is the major factor.”
It’s the cerebral aspects of knowing how teams are going to protect you, what’s going to be open, and manipulating the scenarios to get anything you want when you can’t always get the physical reps in a brief season and need to rest your body.
Last week in Utah, the Jazz swept the Grizzlies in back-to-back sets, and this week, they’ll try to complete the season sweep.
In each of those contests, Mitchell scored an average of 35 points.
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