Gabriel Iglesias Reveals He's 'Happy to Be Alive' After Jet Makes Emergency Landing
Gabriel Iglesias' private plane had a rough landing in North Carolina. On Friday, the comedian's jet had to make an emergency stop. His private plane was parked in a field, and he and other passengers stood nearby in a video he shared on Instagram. "Emergency landing!!! Our private jet skid off the runway and wound up in a field in Andrew's, N. Carolina," Iglesias wrote in the Instagram post. "Everyone is ok but shaken up. Happy to be alive. I love u all." Iglesias and his team were headed to his scheduled performance at Harrah's Cherokee Resort Event Center in Cherokee, North Carolina. The reverse thrusters of the plane failed after touching down, he told TMZ. It continued on the runway at high speed until it reached the grass when it stopped.
As the plane approached the landing strip, Iglesias also reported that there was "horrible" turbulence on the ground. His head even hit the ceiling of the plane at one point during the flight. Thankfully, everyone on the plane was able to escape without injury. "As we were going down we were picturing a scene from Almost Famous where everyone felt they were going to die. We all told each other, 'We love you!' thinking it was the end," Iglesias told TMZ, adding that grass blades hit the windows. After the incident, Iglesias said, "Thank u to the pilots who did what they had to do to get us on the ground safely." He added, "This could have been so bad. Grateful I live to see another day and YES I will be flying tomorrow… just not on this jet."
According to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, it was reported around 12:59 p.m. EDT that an aircraft ran off a runway. The Valleytown Fire and Rescue reported no injuries. The NTSB and FAA will continue to investigate, the sheriff's office said. "The Aircraft a 1987 Gulfstream, N924MB had difficulty coming to stop for an undetermined reason and slid approximately 600 feet off the end of the runway," officials said in a statement. "The local area had been experiencing heavy rain during the morning. One of the passengers of the aircraft was popular national comedian Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias, who has documented his experience on his Instagram page." On Saturday, Iglesias updated his Instagram followers, captioning a photo of a sleek new plane, "New day, new jet. Of course we were freaking out the whole flight after what hap yesterday but we made it safely to Mississippi. Thank u to everyone who reached out to ck on us. The show must go on!" Currently, the comedian is on his Don't Worry, Be Fluffy Tour, which has dates scheduled through the end of the year.
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