Stuck on Plane, 76-YO Terry Bradshaw Rescues Trapped Passengers as Pilot Pays Tribute to Steelers Legend

In 2018, the Pittsburgh Steelers great Terry Bradshaw updated everyone “I can’t run. I can’t play with my grandkids the way I used to. And I don’t like that.” And it was visible after Super Bowl LIX as he spoke to the Pitts quarterback Jalen Hurts with his body shaking at the Superdome in New Orleans. However, medical conditions wouldn’t stop the 76-year-old NFL great from checking things off of his bucket list, would they? He is raising his horses, playing with his grandkids, traveling with the family, and being the voice of NFL coverage at Fox, and very recently, giving the trope “Is there a doctor on the plane?” a new twist, all after a legendary career in the Steel City.

In 1974, when Terry Bradshaw got benched in Week 2, the then-HC Chuck Noll had seen enough of the mistakes, the erratic throws, the turnovers. But months later, it was Bradshaw standing on the Superdome turf, firing the only touchdown pass in a Super Bowl IX rock fight, and delivering the Steelers their first title. That was Bradshaw’s way: mess up early, matter later. And he’s sticking to it, well, at least the latter part.

Cut to last week, stuck on a grounded plane in Pittsburgh, the Hall of Famer watched flight crew struggle with a jammed exit door. After 30 minutes, Bradshaw stood up from seat 1A and forced it open himself. Fifty years later, the endings still belong to him, and he still can impress Pittsburgh with his strengths.

As per Ricky Sayer of KDKA, “Terry Bradshaw saved the day for a group of travelers trapped in a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport. The door on Bradshaw’s plane was stuck for close to half an hour before Bradshaw helped to force it open, according to a passenger we spoke with.”

While he may not be at his best physically anymore, the former QB still showed up when it mattered, becoming a hero to the passengers. Another tweet by Sayer mentioned a conversation with a passenger where the latter mentioned the pilot’s appreciative words for Terry.

Interestingly, considering that Terry was in the first row, some passengers joked about Bradshaw’s strength and how he could have easily opened the door in his younger days. “I mean honestly, I was just ready to get off the flight. But the guy next to me had made the joke that they should have him bust down the door and I was like, well maybe he could a few years ago,” Bradshaw’s fellow traveler Selah Gamble added. However, moments after, Gamble had to take back her words, seeing Bradshaw do the unthinkable. “I’m definitely eating my words.”

After he saved the day, Bradshaw didn’t linger for the praises. He had somewhere to be. Specifically, he was in Pittsburgh to co-host the 2025 edition of Mel Blount’s annual All-Star Celebrity Roast — a fundraiser benefiting the Mel Blount Youth Leadership Initiative, but this year, something more: the 50th anniversary of the Steelers’ first Super Bowl win.

There’s a kind of symmetry in it all. Fifty years after that 16-6 win over the Vikings, Bradshaw was again the guy in the final act, again the one delivering the result. And perhaps that’s what makes this moment more than just a quirky travel anecdote. For those who understand what Bradshaw once meant to this city—and what this city once failed to understand about Bradshaw—the symbolism is hard to ignore.

The 1974 team was arguably the greatest draft class in NFL history, but Super Bowl IX was a mud-wrestle in cleats. The Steelers didn’t score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter, and it was Bradshaw who made it happen, freezing the Vikings’ secondary just long enough to find Larry Brown for 30 yards and the game’s only passing score. That drive sealed the win, but more than that, it proved that Bradshaw could be trusted with the clutch moment.

That’s always been the essence of Terry Bradshaw. He could frustrate you for three quarters and then throw a laser in the fourth. He could look unprepared one week and outduel Staubach the next. But even after his first win, the Steeler nation had not warmed up to him.

He wasn’t embraced the way a four-time champion typically would be, and for decades, he kept his distance. Even at the height of his broadcasting career, he skipped major team reunions. When the Steelers won Super Bowl XL in 2006, ending a 26-year drought, Bradshaw declined the invite to present the trophy. The wounds were still fresh.

“I didn’t feel wanted back then,” he admitted in the HBO documentary Terry Bradshaw: Going Deep. “So I stayed away. But I never stopped loving the team. I just didn’t think the team loved me back.”

This is what made his presence at Mel Blount’s Celebrity Roast so striking.

Terry Bradshaw marks the 50th anniversary of his Super Bowl IX victory

Mel Blount’s annual celebrity roast is a staple event every year to raise money for his Youth Leadership Initiative. Now, given that Bradshaw was the co-host of this year’s event with another former Steeler, Merril Hoge, he definitely had to get off that plane. This event honors the 50th anniversary of the Steelers‘ first Super Bowl win on January 12th, 1975.

Bradshaw was still a 26-year-old QB who had just lost his starting spot temporarily to Joe Gilliam. However, he regained it soon after, during the regular season. His 4th quarter TD against the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game earned the Steelers their first shot at the Super Bowl.

Given the magnitude of the game and the weight on his shoulders, Bradshaw delivered Steel City its first of 6 Super Bowls. He only needed to complete 9 of 14 passes for 96 yards and just one TD to hoist the Lombardi. Later, Bradshaw led the Steelers to three more Super Bowl victories, earning an immortal status in their folklore.

Until Ben Roethlisberger arrived, Bradshaw was the undisputed Steelers’ leading yardage record holder at 27,989 and TD leader with 212 scores to his name. He also took home the 1978 NFL MVP award and waltzed into the Hall of Fame shortly after his career ended in 1983. He’s considered one of the best Steelers of all time even if he may not have those Super Bowl rings anymore, having donated them but he sure hasn’t forgotten those days when he quarterbacked the Steelers dynasty, something that hasn’t been replicated yet.