May 10, 2025, was a day the golf icon Greg Norman will never forget. The day marked a frightening incident while he was on his way home from Los Angeles International Airport to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, soon after making a run in the International Series Japan tournament in Tokyo. But his pilot was forced to lose altitude and make an emergency landing. So, what really happened?

Speaking to Australian Golf Digest, the 70-year-old legend recounted the events of the incident. He said, “We had been climbing out of LAX for around 15 to 20 minutes, so we were pretty high, when all of a sudden we heard this loud pop. The windscreen had shattered, and the pilots had to perform an immediate descent and slow down.”

At altitudes, typically between 10,000 and 20,000 feet, any fracture in the cockpit windscreen can rapidly escalate, jeopardizing visibility, oxygen levels, and the aircraft's integrity. That's why the pilots’ immediate response, as Norman recounted, was to initiate a rapid but controlled descent, reducing cabin pressure and aerodynamic stress while slowing the aircraft to prevent the crack from worsening.

The pilot simultaneously notified air traffic control to secure priority routing, emergency landing clearance, and ground support. After landing safely, Greg Norman posted an image of the shattered windscreen of his private jet on Instagram.

The fracture radiating across the glass was a sobering visual reminder of how close the flight came to a far more serious outcome. “Inflight LAX – PBI loud pop = shattered windscreen. Only the second time in 40 years of private travel. Returned to LAX to the professionals to make sure all is ok. Thanks, all," he added in the caption.

Norman’s Instagram post made it crystal clear that he had been in mid-air mishaps before. So what’s the story behind that admission?

Greg Norman has a bad history with air transport

During his conversation with GD, Greg Norman confessed, “It’s certainly not my first rodeo with events like this. The last (mid-air emergency) I had was in my plane climbing at 30,000 feet and – BANG! – We dived to about 10,000 feet and slowed down.” 

“I’ve had more interesting things, as much as I’ve flown over the years – lightning strikes, cabin fires, breaking the ceiling barrier to see the curvature of the earth, losing hydraulics after taking off from an aircraft carrier.”

During one of his escapades in an apple farm west of Sydney, Australia, he had to make an emergency landing in his helicopter. That experience made him believe that helicopters are certainly worse than aircraft. 

Greg Norman’s ordeal underscores both the unpredictability of air travel and the lifesaving value of trained pilots whose rapid action can prevent catastrophe. But what’s your thought on the golfer’s mid-air mishaps? 

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi