Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s private jet suffered a serious mechanical issue that forced him to make an emergency landing and pull the plug on his trip.
The Hollywood actor, 52, was on a flight from Hawaii to Houston, Texas, for the opening of the United Football League’s second season when his $65 million Gulfstream G650 ran into a major glitch.
The former WWE champ, who is a co-owner of the UFL, detailed the terrifying ordeal in a post on social media, saying the mid-air incident forced him to head back to his Hawaii home.
“I’m here back home in Hawaii, and I was scheduled right now to be in Houston, Texas,” he said in a video on X, revealing that the issue took place just “35 to 40 minutes” after takeoff.
“Right now, I was going to be on the field in Houston, Texas hyping up the crowd getting them ready with mana and electricity as we kicked off our UFL, our United Football League season number two, live on Fox.”
“I was ready to go. Man, I was super pumped to get down there to Texas, to rock and roll with all the players and fans and coaches. I’m just so super bummed that I can’t be there and I’m so sorry,” Johnson said, adding that the pilot told him that a “hydraulics overheating issue” caused the malfunction.
The “Moana” actor praised his pilot’s “demeanor” during the touch-and-go moment.
“He explained to me what happened, and he said it was a hydraulics issue with overheating,” Johnson said.
“The pilot comes back to me, he gets down on one knee, and he is face-to-face with me. It’s just me on the plane. Just me and the crew. And he says, ‘Mr. Johnson, I’m sorry to inform you but we cannot continue to fly over the ocean. We have a problem. We have to turn the plane around, and we have to land back in Hawaii. You have my word I will land you back safely on the island.’”
“He said there are some issue we can work out as we are in the air, and then there’s some that we are not going to take a chance, especially over the ocean, and especially when the computer of the plane is saying don’t fly anymore over the ocean, you gotta get back to land,” he added.
The “Black Adam” actor admitted that he began to think the worst as he asked himself, “Is this it? Is this how I check out?”
“But when the pilot comes out and he has a conversation with you, and he gets down on one knee, and then he goes back to the cockpit, the flight attendant, she was amazing, she goes ‘Mr. Johnson can I get you anything?’”
Johnson said he asked for a drink to calm his nerves, adding that he asked his flight attendant to “make it a double.”
“When you are back there alone with just your drink, and you are thinking about this, and you’ve got everything crossed hoping you make it back safely, you start to realize really quickly the s–t that is really important in life,” he said.
“Then you realize the shit that doesn’t matter that you are thinking about and worrying about. I had one of those moments last night. Bottom line is: I’m grateful to be back on the ground. I’m grateful to be back home in Hawaii. Super-bummed I can’t be there in Texas.”
“I appreciate God, the universe … I took this as a sign from God and the universe. I wish though I was there in Houston, Texas,” the “Red One” actor added.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
