PEORIA, Ill. – A group from Peoria Christian High School safely arrived in Japan after their international flight had to be diverted.
The group of 16 students and three adults were on a United Airlines flight Thursday from San Francisco to Osaka, Japan, when a wheel fell off the plane during takeoff. The flight had to be diverted to Los Angeles.
PCHS Principal Jeremy Garrett says the school’s athletic director told him they were not aware the tire had fallen off, until the flight crew mentioned something about it.
“Really, he said that’s pretty much all he knew. He said you couldn’t tell anything on the plane, at least, according to him, you couldn’t tell anything happened, but just that they were going to have to turn around and go back to Los Angeles,” Garrett said.
Garrett says the group eventually made its way across the Pacific Ocean. He says there were concerns about the group being split up on separate flights, or having to stay in Los Angeles, but that never happened.
Garrett says the group is on a relationship building mission for about a week with kids in Osaka.
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