Carolina Panthers players narrowly avoided serious injury in scary scenes at Charlotte Douglas Airport on Friday morning when their plan skidded off the runway.
The team were flying back from their opening preseason game against the New England Patriots, with their Delta Airlines plane landing around 2:40am.
Upon arrival, the plane overran the taxiway, forcing emergency vehicles to rush to the scene.
At around 3:45am, stairs were towed to the plane and the players and staff were allowed to disembark, with all passengers avoiding injury.
In a statement to local media, Delta revealed that landing gear on the right side of the aircraft exited the taxiway after a normal landing.
A Delta plane similar to the one carrying Panthers players sits at Charlotte Douglas Airport
Hours earlier, the Panthers had lost to the Patriots in a preseason game in New England
The Panthers finished the game on Thursday night and flew straight back to Carolina
188 customers were on board the flight, with both players and personnel of the Carolina Panthers NFL team among them.
In the game in New England, the Panthers had lost 17-3 to begin their 2024 season.
The team will hope that the scary scenes on Friday morning are not a sign of things to come on the field this season, as they come off the back of an awful 2-15 year.
The Panthers have a new coach for 2024 in the form of Dave Canales and are set to start the season with Bryce Young at quarterback once again.
Their top draft pick from the 2024 Draft was South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette at 22, with running back Jonathon Brooks also picked up in the second round out of Texas.
