‘It got a little scary,’ Bill Self says of Kansas Jayhawks’ flight with engine issue
Bill Self was sitting next to his wife, Cindy, in the “fifth or sixth row” of a Swift Air Boeing 737-400 charter airliner Sunday night when one of the plane’s two engines blew out 31,000 feet above the ground.
“It got a little scary. It certainly was a shock,” Self, Kansas’ 17th-year basketball coach said just after 6 Monday night at Forbes Field. He met a throng of media members just a few minutes after 60 to 65 KU players, coaches, school administrators and donors landed safe a day after a victory at Stanford and major air scare a couple hours after the game.
The Jayhawks were 20 minutes into a return flight Sunday from California when their charter had problems.
“I guess we were fortunate it blew in the first 20, 25 minutes before we got over the mountains where we wouldn’t have a place to land,” Self said. “It did rattle us initially but everybody was so calm it turned out to not be as significant as what it has been portrayed.”
What happened is a pilot announced that one of the plane’s two engines indeed had malfunctioned and the charter would return to San Jose International Airport.
There were no other problems on the short trip back to the airport. The Jayhawks landed safely, stayed in a San Jose hotel another night and returned via another charter from the same company on Monday.
“I don’t know if they were sparks or actually flames,” Self said of what he saw looking out the window with Cindy. “We were sitting right over the engine. Obviously it was loud when it went out. We had players who saw it (engine blowing). Obviously it would have rattled us more had they (all) seen that.”
Self, a former Oklahoma State basketball player and assistant coach, said his mind raced to thoughts of the OSU aircraft tragedy that claimed 10 of his friends’ lives back in 2001.
“It actually did … only for a minute,” Self said. “I don’t want to make this out to be more than what it was, obviously serious but not to the point anybody was in panic mode. Kudos to the pilots.”
One of the pilots told Self it indeed was a serious situation but that it is not uncommon to be able to fly an airliner with one engine.
“I’m not much of an airplane mechanic. I saw sparks coming from one of the wings outside our window. That’s what the issue was,” said redshirt senior Mitch Lightfoot, who was seated with his teammates toward the back of the plane. Self, who was ordered to sit in his seat with seatbelt on, didn’t speak to the players until after everybody had deplaned.
“I don’t even know what I was thinking,” Lightfoot added, “praying hard, hoping we were back on the earth in a short amount of time.”
Lightfoot and his teammates texted loved ones as soon as the plane landed back in San Jose following the malfunction Sunday.
“I usually text her (mom), ‘I love you we’re taking off.’ This is one time I didn’t (before flight). It was, ‘No way in hell (he forgot). I texted her (after landing). She was, ‘I love you too.’ I didn’t tell her what happened at first. Then I said the plane had an issue. She said, ‘What?’
“After it was done we were joking about it,” Lightfoot added of players. “It’s scary while you are in the situation.”
Self said in speaking with the players, “everybody said they were doing OK. One of ‘em was a little rattled. He seemed fine by an hour or so after. I don’t think we’ll struggle boarding one in the future. Guys didn’t have any problem getting on this one and we had no issues coming back.”
Self noted that coincidentally it was his second plane scare of the season. He and assistant Jerrance Howard had a charter flight return shortly after taking off because of some issues. That was about a month ago.
“It’s a good thing. They did end up grounding it,” Self said of that plane.
As far as this incident ... “we are home,” Self said. “It feels good. The fact we committed 14 turnovers the first half (vs. Stanford) didn’t matter much last night or this morning. It does put things in perspective. It was a nervous time for a short amount of time. We are counting our blessings today but it’s not like we had an emergency landing.”
Self said the Jayhawks would resume practice Tuesday for Saturday’s 3 p.m. home game and Big 12 opener against West Virginia.
