Andrews – A private jet overshot the runway while taking a comedian to his show – only this isn’t the setup for one of his jokes.
Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias was scheduled for a 9 p.m. Friday performance at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee. He and his entourage were en route from Albertville, Ala., to Western Carolina Regional Airport off of U.S. 19/74, a 32-minute flight of about 178 miles.
Severe weather, including low clouds and rain, had set in over Andrews as the 1987 Gulfstream IV made its approach just before 1 p.m. Friday. There were six passengers, a two-person air crew and Iglesias’ two Chihuahuas aboard.
TMZ.com, a news service focusing on the entertainment industry, posted a story three hours after the crash that included an interview with the comedian. Iglesias told TMZ that the plane was on final approach amid “horrible turbulence … he says it was so bad he hit his head on the ceiling of the plane.
“… The pilot apparently overshot the spot where the wheels were supposed to touch down,” TMZ reported. “He tells TMZ after they touched down the reverse thrusters somehow failed.”
According to witness descriptions and information from airport officials, the 53,000-pound twin-engine jet landed in bad weather too far down the
5,500-foot runway at the airport. It overshot the runway before it stopped in muddy grass on the runway’s east end, its nose about 100 yards from the edge of the runway.
There were no injuries, but the local airport was closed for more than six hours, from 1-7:30 p.m.
“Emergency landing!!!” Iglesias posted under his “fluffyguy” Instagram account Friday shortly after the incident. “Our private jet skid off the runway and wound up in a field in Andrews, N. Carolina. Everyone is ok but shaken up. Happy to be alive.
“I love u all.”
His posts included a video of the landed aircraft, its engines apparently still idling, as his entourage trudged across the grass toward fire engines from Valleytown Fire & Rescue parked at the end of the runway.
“Thank u to the pilots who did what they had to do to get us on the ground safely,” he said in a second post. “This could have been so bad. Grateful I live to see another day and YES I will be flying tomorrow … just not on this jet.”
“As we were going down we were picturing a scene from Almost Famous where everyone felt they were going to die,” Iglesias told TMZ. “We all told each other, ‘We love you!’ thinking it was the end.’ ”
He said blades of grass were hitting the aircraft windows as it left the runway. “It looked like someone was cutting the grass,” he told TMZ. “It was crazy.”
Iglesias made his Friday night appearance in Cherokee, and his entourage departed Saturday in a different jet.
“Of course we were freaking out the whole flight after what hap (happened) yesterday but we made it safely to Mississippi,” he posted on his Instagram.
Gulfstream Aerospace made more than 900 Gulfstream IV aircraft between 1985 and 2018. The aircraft type is used both by civilians and the U.S. government.
A Flightaware map shows the flight diverging from its course from Alabama as pilots avoided weather along the way. Flightaware reports that the aircraft is owned by Evolution Development Partners LLC.
Heavy-duty wreckers were brought in from Georgia to inch the aircraft off the grass and back onto the runway. The jet was moved down the runway to the western end, where it remained through the weekend.
Valleytown Fire & Rescue was on scene minutes after the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.