Brendan Fevola recalls the poignant moment he texted his family to say goodbye during a shocking mid-flight emergency.
The Melbourne-based radio star, 43, described the terrifying incident during his recent flight to Sydney, where his plane appeared to have a problem during landing.
About the heartbreaking fear at The Fox’s Fifi, Fev and Nick On Wednesday, Brendan admitted he thought he was “going to die.”
He revealed he sent his four daughters – Mia, 24, Leni, 17, Lulu, 14, and Tobi, six, who he shares with Alex Cheatham – a heartfelt message because he feared the worst.
“I said, ‘I think I’m going to die.’ I actually sent a message to the kids, literally sent a message, just in case,” he told listeners.
The former AFL star said he became concerned after an initial attempt to ground the plane was suddenly aborted.
Brendan Fevola recalls the poignant moment he texted his family to say ‘goodbye’ during a shocking mid-flight emergency
“Suddenly the plane went up again and started shaking,” he explained.
“I thought ‘argh’… it goes back up and hangs. I think we were quite close to land; we hovered for a while, and then the engine died.”
Brendan said there was a particularly terrifying moment during landing when he thought the plane ‘stopped flying’.
“I looked at the lady next to me and thought, ‘What’s going on?’ We went back up, we went back down and we did it again,” he added.
“I told my kids, ‘I’m on the plane.’ We tried to land twice and then went back up. I’m a little scared. Just a message to say I love you all”, with love hearts.’
The former Carlton Football Club champion admitted he drank wine during the air crisis.
“This is probably the grimmest part of it all because I was drinking a beautiful Pinot Noir, but when you go down you can’t hold the glass in your hand, so I drank from a paper cup,” he joked.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to die drinking red wine from a paper cup.’ “Should I throw it away now or wait until we drink it?”
Recounting the shock, he said he sent a heartfelt message to his four daughters – Mia, 24, Leni, 17, Lulu, 14, and Tobi, six, who he shares with Alex Cheatham – as he feared the worst.
‘This is what was going through my mind. Anyway, that’s when we landed.’
Brendan said the pilot later told passengers that the landing problem arose because it came “too fast” for the prevailing tailwind.
Brendan married make-up artist Alex in 2005 and they welcomed three children together, while Brendan also adopted Alex’s child Mia from a previous relationship.
The couple divorced in 2014, but their separation was short-lived as they reunited later that same year, before getting engaged again in 2016.
Brendan popped the question to Alex for the second time in front of their children after he was crowned the winner of the 2016 season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Australia.