.:[Double Click To][Close]:.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Marshall Avoids Another Tragedy

In November of 1970 37 members of the Marshall University football team along with 8 memebers of the coaching staff and 25 boosters died in a plane crash in West Virginia. The crash and the way the program was put back together was mad into a movie, "We Are Marshall".

On Wednesday night, history almost repeated itself. Members of the coaching staff were on a plane that had to make an emergency landing in Louisville,Kentucky. A very scary case of deja vu.

From CBSSports.com: Around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, a landing gear malfunction aboard ComAir Flight 5359 diverted a flight bound for Charleston from Atlanta to Lexington. The flight included Marshall’s entire offensive coaching staff and two of its defensive coaches.



Entering into its final descent, the landing gear finally came down on the plane and a crash-landing was averted as the coaches made their way off the flight safe and sound.

I've flown a few times and consider myself lucky not to have any kind of turbulence on those flights. I know I would've feared for my life considering history.

 “On our way back, we kept circling flying into Charleston — three times,”tight ends coach Phil Ratliff told the Huntington Herald-Dispatch. “He (the pilot) went back up in the air and we knew something was wrong.



“The crew basically came back and told us that they were diverting us to Lexington. They didn’t say it but if we had to crash land, it was a bigger runway.


“You grow up hearing about this for 40 years. For this to happen 40 years later, it was just unbelievable. We were all praying. It was calm, but we were definitely praying. It was a situation that you never want to go — thinking about your family, having your life go before your eyes. It was just unbelievable.”
 
Fortunately everyone on the flight was safe and unharmed. That had to be a scary situation for everyone involved.

No comments:

Post a Comment