Photo Credit: Getty Images

Donovan Mitchell’s Status For Future Road Games Uncertain, Following Engine Fire & Emergency Landing 

On Tuesday, the Utah Jazz’s charter plane was forced to perform an emergency landing following a bird strike that caused an engine fire. 

The damage after a Delta charter carrying the @utahjazz struck a flock of birds mid-air today. The plane turned around and made an emergency landing at @slcairport. #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/h7IyL5usmL

— Marc Sternfield (@msternfield) March 30, 2021

Since then, many of the Jazz players and coaches have come forward to speak about how they experienced this scary situation, with the basic consensus being that the situation felt life threatening.

Here’s Jordan Clarkson’s statement as an example:

“At least 30 seconds on that flight everyone came to a point where it was like, ‘man, this might be over for us.'”

The main question that remains following the incident is Donovan Mitchell’s status for following road trips this season (or longer?).

See, Mitchell already hated flying as is, and after these scary moments in the sky, no-one knows the status of the All-Star’s willingness to fly with the team, or in general, anymore.

Head coach Quin Snyder was asked about this potential problem and revealed that he doesn’t comment on personal situations of his players.

“I never comment on personal situations with any of our players. I hope you can respect that.

The most important thing is that everything turned out and we were safe. The pilots, you get an appreciation for their expertise. … One of the engines blew … Everything’s in limbo — and that’s a traumatic and eerie feeling.”

In the meantime, and old video of Donovan Mitchell surfaced in which he admits to being “terrified” of flying. 

Old draft workout of Donovan Mitchell in which he admits to being “terrified” of flying. Which may have something to do with his not being with the Jazz on their second flight to Memphis. https://t.co/qOGG9ics4h

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 31, 2021

This isn’t the first time and NBA player is facing such difficulties, as Royce White struggled with anxiety for much of his professional career, which was triggered by his fear of flying.