Gold Coast AFL team flight drama - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Gold Coast AFL team flight drama

Greg Buckle 16/06/2011 09:30:52 PM Comments (0)

The Gold Coast AFL team have been involved in a mid-air drama after their Virgin Australia flight to Launceston landed in Hobart instead.

The Suns were forced to catch a bus to Launceston on Thursday night ahead of Saturday's round 13 clash with Hawthorn.

"It's obviously not ideal for us, but it will only cause a minor disruption. The boys are in good spirits," Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft said in a statement.

"We will still arrive at our team hotel in Launceston tonight, and hold a training session at Aurora Stadium in the morning, so it will be business as usual."

Suns skipper Gary Ablett said the late change of travel plans was "not a great result".

"Was supposed to land in Launceston 2 hours ago..... Just landed in Hobart," Ablett said on Twitter.

"Disaster..... Just got told we're catching a bus to launceston!"

Ablett's team-mate Luke Russell suggested it had been a heavy landing.

"Gee I hope I can get up for the game on Saturday! My necks still on the plane," the 19-year-old half-forward said on Twitter.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman blamed a "technical issue" for the switch to Hobart.

"The captain elected to divert as a precautionary measure and Hobart was the closest," the spokeswoman said.

"He landed without incident but as standard operating procedure the aircraft was met by emergency services."

Virgin said the flight, with 56 people on board, landed without incident.

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