Parisians will remember their weekend in the Pink City for a long time. Beyond their defeat (49-18) on the Ernest-Wallon pitch, they experienced a far from pleasant moment during their outward flight. On Saturday May 11, an emergency procedure was triggered to clarify this unusual landing. The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) for civil aviation safety has opened an investigation to determine the causes of an “anomaly on the landing gear position indicator”.
The Parisian manager, Laurent Labit told ActuRugby about this significant episode for his squad. “When the pilot went around again while we were descending, we came back up and the plane made a turn, we said to ourselves that there was a problem and that he had maybe missed the trail.” During this maneuver, the purser had to inform the passengers of what was happening. “She was a little far from us so we couldn’t really hear what she was saying but we could clearly see her face change in expression,” says one of the players from the Parisian club. In those moments you tell yourself that the “The crew is supposed to reassure you but it got worse and worse each time she spoke to the passengers. When you see the purser with tears in her eyes, you start to imagine really bad things.” .
As landing is imminent, the plane’s occupants are ordered to protect their heads. “Just before landing, the pilot announced ‘impact’, which was not the most reassuring” says Laurent Labit. Once landing, they had to wait an hour before leaving the cockpit, surrounded by various fire trucks, police and even ambulances. Fortunately, the return flight went without incident.
