TUNICA, Miss. — Morgan Freeman was aboard his plane when it had to make an unexpected landing in Mississippi, but nobody was injured.
Mayor Bill Luckett of Clarksdale, a longtime friend of the 78-year-old Oscar-winning actor, confirms the plane made a controlled forced landing before dark Saturday. Freeman released a statement saying he was headed to Texas to shoot a segment for the series “The Story of God.'”
“Sometimes things don’t go as planned and a tire blew on takeoff, which caused other problems,” he said.
But he said they “landed safely without a scratch.” He said he can’t say the same about his plane.
Luckett said Freeman and the pilot were aboard the flight that originated in Clarksdale, and another plane was en route to Tunica, the landing site, to pick Freeman up.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement emailed Saturday by spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen that the landing gear collapsed and the plane ran off the side of a runway.
“Our team is trained for all potential emergencies and our expert ground team at the Tunica Airport was ready for the situation,” Eric Konupka, the executive director of Tunica Airport, said in a statement.
The statement from Tunica Airport said the plane was a private Syber Jet SJ30. It only suffered minimal damage.
