Michael Clarke has re-injured his back after the Qantas charter jet he is travelling on went into a rapid descent due to a mid-flight malfunction.

 The Boeing 737 lost altitude after it’s landing gear was prematurely lowered due to a system going offline. As the plane suddenly dropped, Clarke was jolted from his seat and strained his lower back muscle in the process. Qantas, under fire for a series of mechanical failures this week, have confirmed that the aircraft in question had undergone maintenance for this problem multiple times.  

The Australian captain was travelling back to Sydney for medical treatment after pulling his hamstring on the 5th day of the Adelaide test. While attempting to field at midwicket, he had overextended his right leg to avoid bending over to pick up the ball, worried about straining his problem lower back.  

Once the plane had stabilised Clarke called for assistance and was moved to a specialised medical bed on the plane to avoid any further aggravation. Unfortunately for Clarke, the ordeal was not over, as activating the bed’s electronic elevation caused a short circuit in the planes power system. This disabled the air conditioning and made cabin pressure rise to unsafe levels, triggering oxygen masks to fall.   

The oxygen mask compartment above Clarke was also used to store the inflight entertainment. Dozens of DVDs, mainly old Three Stooges movies, fell and hit him on the head causing comical sound effects and various contusions.

Alex White

Categories: Business, Sport

Tags: Cricket, Injuries, Michael Clarke, Qantas