Dwight Yoakam’s Flight Scare Before Concert
Country artist Dwight Yoakam left fans in shock after revealing that his plane had a mechanical failure, forcing him to abort takeoff on his way to a concert on February 12.
On February 16, he took to X to explain the situation and apologize for being nearly two hours late to his performance in Lubbock, Texas. Yoakam described how the aircraft encountered “an emergency takeoff abort” right before it was set to leave.
“I want to personally apologize to the fans who bought tickets and attended our show in Lubbock TX this past Thursday evening the 12th of February,” he expressed. “What actually happened Thursday afternoon was that we had an emergency takeoff abort as the aircraft was about to lift off from the runway due to a mechanical failure warning in the cockpit.”
Initially, there seemed to be some miscommunication regarding the cause of the delay. “It has only today been brought to my attention that unfortunately the circumstances surrounding my delayed arrival to perform the concert that night were not conveyed clearly by an in-person announcement from the stage but rather by a vague anonymous PA announcement about a flight delay,” he noted.
Yoakam reflected on the precarious situation he and the crew encountered. “Fortunately, the pilots handled the aborted takeoff with exceptional professional skill and they were able to avoid anything more dangerous or catastrophic occurring,” he reassured his fans.
After returning to the hangar and realizing the aircraft issue couldn’t be fixed, he mentioned they were able to switch to another plane and continue to Lubbock around an hour and thirty minutes after his scheduled performance time of 9:00 PM.
He expressed gratitude toward his fans while voicing concern over how the incident was communicated. “Again, I want to express my sincere apologies to all the fans in attendance that evening that the announcement about the reason for the show’s delay was not made from ‘onstage’ more clearly and respectfully,” he stated. “I am very sorry for any frustration and disappointment the delay caused.”
