Pilot takes action as engine fails on West Coast Eagles flight

The Eagles arrived in Melbourne after their flight made a rapid descent and their pilot made a “scary” announcement.

The West Coast Eagles arrived in Melbourne on Friday night after a stressful moment in the air.

The club has confirmed their QQ557 flight arrived in Melbourne later than scheduled as a result of their aircraft experiencing engine failure.

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The West Australian first reported one of the engines failed and was turned off while the flight was still around an hour away from Melbourne.

Former West Coast Eagles star Will Schofield revealed the news on Friday night with a photo that showed the live flight tracker.

“Engine failure on the @WestCoastEagles flight to Melbourne today,” he wrote on Twitter.

“All safe and well, pilots are trained to handle these situations, but scary none the less.

“The blue line is the change in altitude, deliberately by the pilot to land safely.”

The West Coast Eagle's flight path, according to Will Schofield. Photo: Twitter, @WillSchofield, Daniel Carson AFL Photos.

The data shows the plane made a rapid descent from 35,000 feet to 17,000 feet.

An Eagles spokesman has since told WAtoday: “There was a bit of a vibration that went through the plane and after a few minutes the pilot came over the PA system to tell everyone that the left-hand engine had failed so they were shutting it down,” he said.

“Everybody was OK when we landed and the pilot kept everyone safe and well for that last hour. Everyone was pretty happy to get on the buses and get to the hotel from there.”

It is far from an ideal preparation for the club’s Round 16 clash with Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.

The Eagles are coming off their first win since their victory over Collingwood in round 4.

Their upset win over Essendon in Perth last weekend was also the first home win at Perth’s Optus Stadium in 335 days.