Scary flight for Eala, PBA staff as plane’s tail drops off
Credit to Author: JOEL ORELLANA| Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2020 07:48:30 +0000
Games Today (Superdome, Ormoc City)
6 p.m.–FedEx vs. Talk N Text
COMMISSIONER Noli Eala of the Philippine Basketball Association and members of his staff may have second thoughts next time they ride on a Cebu Pacific flight.
Eala, his entourage and the other passengers of the Cebu Pacific flight 651 bound for Tacloban had a hair-raising ride on Monday when the DC-9 twin-engine jet they were on dropped its tail cone while it was touching down at the Tacloban City Airport.
The passengers were informed of the trouble only after they disembarked from the plane, Eala said in a telephone interview.
“It was a rough landing,” Eala said. “Actually it was more annoying than dangerous. We only knew of the incident as we were finally got off the plane.”
He said that the people at the airport told them that they witnessed the rear portion of the plane falling off on the tarmac when it touched down at around 7 a.m.
Eala and the PBA advance party were to go to Ormoc and prepare for the out-of-town match featuring Federal Express and Talk ’N Text on Tuesday.
The commissioner added that Cebu Pacific management had not informed him why the tail of the plane was ripped off.
Despite the mishap, Eala said, the PBA will continue to patronize the services of the airline “since we have a tie-up with them. Cebu Pacific is our official partner in our all provincial games in the tournament.”
Meanwhile, Talk ’N Text has managed quite well without main man Asi Taulava.
Whether the Phone Pals can continue doing so will be known Tuesday when they take on a FedEx crew with more than revenge on its mind in the Gran Matador-PBA Philippine Cup at the Ormoc City Superdome.
The Manny Pangilinan franchise has racked up a 3-1 win-loss record minus the 6-foot-9 Taulava and a repeat victory over the Express will further distance the Phone Pals from the rest of the field.
But the outcome of the match, also sponsored by PBA official food supplement Lactovitale, may be drastically different than TNT’s crushing 119-98 win the first time the two teams met last October 13.