Steelers team plane makes emergency landing on way home from win in Las Vegas
The Pittsburgh Steelers were planning to get home in the middle of the night after playing the Las Vegas Raiders, but they at least expected to be home — not stuck in Kansas City.
The Steelers played on Sunday night and beat the Raiders, 23-18. Then on the way home, the team's charter plane had to make an emergency landing in Kansas City.
Our team charter plane was unexpectedly diverted to Kansas City early this morning on our way back to Pittsburgh following our game in Las Vegas. Everyone on the plane is safe, and we are making necessary plans to arrive back in Pittsburgh later today.
— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) September 25, 2023
According to KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, the plane had to land due to oil pressure failure in one of the plane's engines. Multiple fire trucks were at the airport as the plane landed a little after 5 a.m. Eastern time. Nobody on the plane was injured.
That unexpected stop meant the team was stuck in Kansas City, where they still remained on Monday morning. The Steelers' original flight was supposed to land in Pittsburgh at about 5:30 a.m. A spokesperson at the airport told KCTV, the CBS affiliate in Kansas City, that a replacement plane was to arrive from Atlanta at about 10 a.m. Eastern time and then take the team to Pittsburgh. It landed at about 10:20 a.m.
Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward was able to keep his humor about the situation and called upon Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift to help out the stranded team.
Yo @taylorswift13 & @tkelce we might need a ride to Pittsburgh
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) September 25, 2023
NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe reported around 1:20pm ET that the Steelers had finally landed back in Pittsburgh and were given the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday off. They'll have to get back on a plane at the end of the week, as they're scheduled to play the Texans in Houston on Sunday.
