an-124
3rd Jul 2006, 00:22
Barassi plane in mid-air scare
From: By David Hastie
July 03, 2006
AFL legend Ron Barassi is lucky to be alive after his plane had engine trouble about 15 minutes after take-off from Victoria's Essendon airport yesterday.
Barassi, 70, was on his way to Portland when an engine on the chartered Australasian Jets twin-engine Cessna overheated.
The 10-time premiership player and coach was one of 10 passengers on board and said he wasn't aware of the full extent of the mid-flight emergency.
"It was a pretty cloudy sky and the depth of cloud was pretty thick so it made it all a bit spooky for all on board," Barassi said yesterday.
"The plane shuddered a bit and I looked up and just put my head back in my suduko.
"I didn't know we were coming home and I saw the city of Melbourne beneath us and I thought to myself, 'We're flying pretty low. I wonder why this is?'
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"From what I understand, everyone else knew what was going on.
"I just sat there with my head down concentrating on my suduko, but the consequences in the other direction weren't too good at all."
Barassi, a Victorian Country Football League ambassador, was flying to Portland to promote yesterday's Western Border Football League match between Portland and Heywood.
He praised the efforts of the pilot who prevented a mid-air catastrophe.
"It was the first time he'd ever landed a plane in those circumstances," Barassi said. "He'd done it before in practice and training planes, so he did it very well."
VCFL marketing manager Graeme Allen, who was in the co-pilot's seat, confessed he feared the plane would not make it back to the airport.
"I thought it was reasonably bad," Mr Allen said. "It could have been really nasty.
"We took off about 10.20 and we were about 15 minutes into it and one of the engines seized.
"We had 10 people on the plane, so it was a full load with one engine that was really struggling to get back."
Mr Allen said the remaining engine only just allowed the plane to reach the airport.
"The pilot started tapping buttons and carrying on, made a few calls and sirens were going in the plane then the engine just stopped," he said.
"The pilot looked very concerned but he did a mighty job, I might add.
"We were flying through fog with one engine seized and the other engine struggling to get us home, so much so that when we landed, that engine didn't have enough to tow us along the runway.
"I was trying to reassure everyone all the way through the flight, but I did s--- myself, I tell you."
Australasian Jets refused to comment and would not reveal the name of the pilot.
From: By David Hastie
July 03, 2006
AFL legend Ron Barassi is lucky to be alive after his plane had engine trouble about 15 minutes after take-off from Victoria's Essendon airport yesterday.
Barassi, 70, was on his way to Portland when an engine on the chartered Australasian Jets twin-engine Cessna overheated.
The 10-time premiership player and coach was one of 10 passengers on board and said he wasn't aware of the full extent of the mid-flight emergency.
"It was a pretty cloudy sky and the depth of cloud was pretty thick so it made it all a bit spooky for all on board," Barassi said yesterday.
"The plane shuddered a bit and I looked up and just put my head back in my suduko.
"I didn't know we were coming home and I saw the city of Melbourne beneath us and I thought to myself, 'We're flying pretty low. I wonder why this is?'
Advertisement:
"From what I understand, everyone else knew what was going on.
"I just sat there with my head down concentrating on my suduko, but the consequences in the other direction weren't too good at all."
Barassi, a Victorian Country Football League ambassador, was flying to Portland to promote yesterday's Western Border Football League match between Portland and Heywood.
He praised the efforts of the pilot who prevented a mid-air catastrophe.
"It was the first time he'd ever landed a plane in those circumstances," Barassi said. "He'd done it before in practice and training planes, so he did it very well."
VCFL marketing manager Graeme Allen, who was in the co-pilot's seat, confessed he feared the plane would not make it back to the airport.
"I thought it was reasonably bad," Mr Allen said. "It could have been really nasty.
"We took off about 10.20 and we were about 15 minutes into it and one of the engines seized.
"We had 10 people on the plane, so it was a full load with one engine that was really struggling to get back."
Mr Allen said the remaining engine only just allowed the plane to reach the airport.
"The pilot started tapping buttons and carrying on, made a few calls and sirens were going in the plane then the engine just stopped," he said.
"The pilot looked very concerned but he did a mighty job, I might add.
"We were flying through fog with one engine seized and the other engine struggling to get us home, so much so that when we landed, that engine didn't have enough to tow us along the runway.
"I was trying to reassure everyone all the way through the flight, but I did s--- myself, I tell you."
Australasian Jets refused to comment and would not reveal the name of the pilot.