A private airplane carrying rapper Post Malone and 15 other passengers safely made an emergency landing at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York, on Tuesday afternoon after two of its front tires blew out at takeoff, the Associated Press reported.
Post Malone tweeted upon landing, saying: "i landed guys. thank you for your prayers. can't believe how many people wished death on me on this website. f- you. but not today."
The Gulfstream IV, a luxury twinjet airplane, took off from the small Teterboro airport in New Jersey at 10:50 a.m. bound for the London Luton Airport in England, according to AP. The pilot quickly realized that two of the plane's front tires had blown out during takeoff and circled above the airport for about half an hour before it was diverted.
Originally, the FAA told the AP that the plane was diverted to Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield, Massachusetts. Soon, it was diverted a second time to Stewart International Airport.
It spent four hours and 55 minutes in the air.
Gossip website TMZ obtained audio of the airplane's pilot speaking to air traffic control after the initial incident. The pilot requested that he be allowed to burn off fuel before making the emergency landing. The pilot can also be heard saying, "We're not going to declare it an emergency."
Many watched the flight's erratic path on the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 as the plane attempted to burn off fuel. Near the end of the flight, the plane disappeared from the website, but Flightradar24 said on Twitter that this is a common and expected occurrence.
It is unclear what caused the tires to blow out. Suran Wijayawardana, COO of Alerion Aviation, told The Washington Post there are several potential causes for such an occurrence such as "debris on the runway, a brake seizure on one of the main wheels which cause the tires to lock up and burn through or a tire worn below limits based on the prior landing and high ambient temperature."
"So far, as it sounds, the crew is following protocol and doing the right thing, the most critical being the decision to continue the takeoff and not try and brake abruptly," she said via email. "By leaving the gear down and burning off fuel, they are clearly following the best procedures and safety protocols."
Post Malone, 23, is one of the most popular young musicians around. He recently earned a Billboard record for having the most simultaneous top 20 Hot 100 hits, surpassing the Beatles and J. Cole, when nine tunes from his No. 1 record "Beerbongs & Bentleys" hit the charts. Much of this was likely due to his popularity on streaming services, such as Spotify.
Monday night, he won song of the year at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards for "Rockstar." He also performed at the awards show alongside 21 Savage and Aerosmith.
"You go to bed and you dream about maybe winning and then whenever you get up here you don't remember what the hell to say," Malone said. "Thank you so much. Thank you to my family, thank you to my crew - everybody that was a part of the song. Thank you everybody for listening."
"Honestly, in a hundred-million years I would never expect to do this ever, so this is sick. So thank you so much, guys, thank you so much," he added.
He is scheduled to perform Friday at the Reading Festival in Reading, England.