Donnie Wahlberg Says Pilots 'Saved Our Lives' After Jet Ran Off Harry Reid Runway

For most of Sunday, the private jet that ran off the end of Runway 1L at Harry Reid International Airport was an anonymous aviation incident: a Dassault Falcon 50, tail number N200SG, an aborted takeoff at about 11 a.m., a perimeter fence, a ground stop, no injuries. Late Sunday evening, the passenger list got a face.

Donnie Wahlberg — actor, and a founding member of New Kids on the Block — posted a video to social media confirming that he and his team were on board. He said he had first sent the video to family and friends, then decided to share it publicly: “so many of you all are my family too so I figured I’d share with you.”

“Yes, it was me and my team/friends onboard the aircraft,” he wrote. “It was a rather intense few moments (which felt like a few long minutes).”

In the video, recorded near the spot where the jet struck the fence, Wahlberg described a takeoff that never became one. “We’re all okay, I’m okay. We were taking off and didn’t get up in the air and ran out of runway,” he said. “The runway is way over there. I’m just gonna tell you: these pilots saved our lives.”

He credited the flight crew with threading the jet past the hazards beyond the pavement. “And God covered us,” he said, “because we were — I’m not sure how many fences we avoided, but we didn’t avoid the last one.” He pointed out the construction vehicles behind him: “But we avoided those trucks and heavy equipment and the dumpsters behind that.” The jet, he added, “took some lumps — but we did not.”

A residency ending, then a runway

The timing is what turned an airport incident into a Vegas story. On Saturday night, October 17, New Kids on the Block performed the 40th and final concert of The Right Stuff, their Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM — the closing night of a final leg that had run through October, and the end of a run Wahlberg had been publicly reflecting on for weeks as a full-circle moment for a group that formed four decades ago. By Sunday late morning, the celebration was a memory and Wahlberg, 57, was on a charter jet trying to leave town.

Instead, the Falcon 50 ran out of runway. Flight-tracking images shared on social media showed the jet turning onto Runway 1L, continuing past the end of the pavement and veering right before stopping at the perimeter fence, reportedly just short of Tropicana Avenue. The airport said the aircraft “skid off runway 1L” on departure and made contact with the fence, and that there were no known injuries.

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a ground stop for what it called an “aircraft emergency.” Runways 1L and 1R were closed for inspection, according to the airport, and the stop lasted more than two hours, with delays rippling into the evening — the disruption Previously tracked earlier Sunday as the jet first went off the runway and again as the ground stop lifted and the runways reopened. At the time, who was on the plane was not part of the public record. Now it is.

What is not yet known

Neither the airport nor the FAA has said what forced the crew to abort the takeoff, and aviation outlet AvBrief noted Sunday night that it remains unclear what prompted the abort; the extent of damage to the aircraft has also not been officially detailed. FAA registry records show the three-engine business jet is owned by Jacks Wings LLC of Boca Raton, Florida, the New York Post reported; AvBrief reported the aircraft is based in Long Beach, California.

Those unanswered questions now land in a busy week for private aviation in Las Vegas: the annual NBAA-BACE business aviation convention runs Tuesday through Thursday, bringing thousands of additional private-aircraft movements to an airport that just demonstrated how quickly one bad takeoff can shut down two runways.

Fans, meanwhile, spent Sunday night doing the arithmetic of relief. Within two hours of Wahlberg’s post, thousands had commented. His wife, Jenny McCarthy, wrote, “God is so good!” Kristin Chenoweth replied, “Oh goodness! Thank the Good Lord yall are ok!” Holly Robinson Peete and Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath added prayer emojis of their own.

Wahlberg closed his video the way he has closed a lot of residency nights — with gratitude, aimed this time at two pilots whose names have not been released. “God is good. We had just finished praying, and I looked out the window and said, ‘We are not getting up in the air today.’ But we’re safe and thankful and all is well. Okay? Don’t worry. Praise God.”

Previously will follow the FAA’s findings on the aborted takeoff as they are released.

Sources: Parade, October 18, 2026, reporting Wahlberg’s own video and caption; AvBrief, October 18, 2026; the Associated Press and KSNV News 3 reporting of the Harry Reid incident, October 18, 2026; the New York Post, October 18, 2026, for FAA registry details.