Mississippi State Plane - After winning 77-44 against Missouri, the Mississippi State men's basketball team had to make an emergency landing on Saturday evening after their chartered Embraer 145 lost power on the right side of its twin engine.
According to Gregg Ellis, media relations director, the Bulldogs were traveling back to Starkville following their game when the engine of the plane blew up, forcing an emergency landing at the Lambert Airport in St .Louis.
It's not immediately clear what caused the right engine to lose power, however it happened about 20 minutes after takeoff.
Reports indicate that the plane turned left and went dark momentarily before straightening out. The players were obviously rattled by the incident.
"It was an obvious noise, a pop, then there was a little bit of smoke in the back there and the plane immediately started drifting left," Coach Rick Ray said in a phone interview with ESPN.
According to Ellis, the pilot assured the passengers that the plane could land with one engine. Fortunately it happened that way and nobody was injured, the players clapped when the plane landed safely.
"The pilots did a really good job, smooth landing," Ray said. "They did a really good job of handling the situation."
Ray added that most of his players were asleep when the incident happened and that some were still shocked by the experience which could have ended fatally.
"We got a couple people that don't enjoy flying in the first place, so that wasn't a good experience for them."
"We landed in St .Louis and ended up spending the night in a small town...Festus, Missouri," Ray said. "And now we're making about a 6 1/2 hour trek back to Starkville, Mississippi."
The team is scheduled to play rivals Ole Miss next Thursday.
