2 days Ago By Evening Standard
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has thanked his lucky stars that he got home safely after his private jet suffered a “mechanical issue” mid-flight. The WWE star, 52, had been travelling from his native Hawaii to Houston, Texas, when the pilot made the decision to turn back as the aircraft was experiencing a hydraulics problem. They were flying over the ocean at the time and the Jungle Cruise actor said he was keeping “everything crossed” as he began to contemplate what’s “really important in life”.
He said: "Last night, we had some issues with the plane. "About 35-40 minutes into the flight the pilot comes back to me. He gets down on one knee and he faces me, face-to-face, and it’s just me on the plane, me and the crew, and he says 'Mr Johnson I’m sorry to inform you that we cannot continue to fly over the ocean'.
"I so appreciate his demeanour; his name was Captain David. I appreciate his demeanour in that moment, and he said it was a hydraulics issue with the overheating. "He said there are some issues we can work out while we’re in the air but there are some issues we’re not gonna take a chance, especially over the ocean.
" Johnson continued: "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 realise really quickly the s*** that is really important in life. "Then you realise the s*** 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. "I appreciate God, the universe.
.. I took this as a sign from God and the universe.
I wish though I was there in Houston." Johnson had been flying to Texas for the opening weekend of the United Football League, which he co-founded. Over on X, formerly Twitter, he apologised to fans and the teams for having to miss it as he reiterated his gratitude for his £50million Gulfstream G650 landing safely.
He wrote: "Super bummed I can’t be in Texas but so grateful we were able to land the plane safely. "So sorry to our @TheUFL fans, players, coaches, staff and our teams at @FOXSports @espn I’m not there. "Let’s have a great season 2 opening weekend, have fun, and ball out.
".
