Looking back at the Michigan basketball team plane crash on March 8, 2017

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Last year the Michigan basketball team's plane crashed at Willow Run Airport as it tried to leave for the Big Ten Tournament in Washington, D.C.

The team was trying to depart for the tournament on March 8, 2017 -- the day before a second-round game against Illinois -- when the team plane slid off the runway.

Head coach John Beilein said the team was "a little banged up and shook up," but there were no serious injuries. Michigan basketball tweeted that the team and everyone in the travel party was safe after the crash.

What happened

When the plane tried to leave, high winds forced the takeoff to be aborted. After strong braking, the plane slid off the runway, the university said.

The plane was extensively damaged, but everyone on board exited the plane safely.

Michigan's basketball team, school band members and cheerleaders were on the plane.

The team debated skipping the tournament after the scare, but ended up leaving at 6 a.m. the following morning for Detroit Metro Airport. The Detroit Pistons let Michigan use their plane, which took off at 7:30 a.m. and landed at 8:45 a.m. in D.C.

"As of right now, we will be able to arrive tomorrow morning in D.C. and play the game at noon as scheduled," another tweet said.

When Michigan took the court, the players were wearing practice jerseys because their gear was on the plane at Willow Run. They weren't allowed to remove anything from the plane because officials were investigating the cause of the incident.

Plane had faulty elevator

The National Transportation Safety Board said the right elevator was jammed on the team's plane when it skidded off the runway.

An elevator controls the airplane's pitch -- the up and down motion -- so it won't nose-dive. 

However, investigators still didn't give a specific cause of the mishap at Willow Run Airport. It happened during a windstorm during which gusts of near 70 miles per hour were reported.

From the NTSB:

"All 109 passengers and seven crewmembers evacuated Ameristar Air Cargo Inc., flight 9363 via escape slides after the Boeing MD-83 came to rest about 1,000 feet past the end of runway 23L.  One passenger sustained a minor injury during the evacuation.

"This update does not provide probable cause for the accident and does not contain analysis of information collected thus far in the NTSB’s ongoing investigation. As such, no conclusions regarding the cause of the incident should be made from this preliminary information.

• Parties to the investigation include the Federal Aviation Administration, The Boeing Company and Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc.
• Both pilots held airline transport pilot certificates with DC-9-series type ratings (this rating includes the MD-83).
• The pilot-in-command, who was the Ameristar chief pilot, was in the right seat and was providing differences training to the captain, who was in the left seat and was the pilot flying the aircraft.
• The Ameristar chief pilot had 9,660 total flight hours, with 2,462 hours in DC 9 series airplanes. The captain (flying pilot) had 15,518 total flight hours, with 8,495 hours in DC-9-series airplanes."

Crash came during historic wind storm

Michigan's plane crash happened during a strong wind storm that caused a massive power outage across southern Michigan.

At its peak, DTE Energy reported more than 800,000 of its 2.1 million customers in Southeast Michigan were without power. Consumers Energy, the second major provider in the state, said more than 360,000 of its customers were without electricity.

DTE said it was the largest weather event in the company's history.

Magical tournament run

Michigan's arrival in Washington was a great story, but what the Wolverines did over the next four days became national news.

As the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan took down Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin in consecutive days to win the conference championship. Though they had been playing better last in the season, the Wolverines were inspired in the nation's capital, knocking off the hottest team in the conference in Minnesota and the top two seeds in the tournament.

In early February, it looked like Michigan might not make the NCAA Tournament. A month later, the team survived a plane crash. Two weeks later, it was in the Sweet 16.

Michigan knocked off a dangerous team in Oklahoma State and upset No. 2 seed Louisville to make it to the second weekend of the Big Dance. Starting point guard Derrick Walton came within inches of sending Michigan to the Elite 8, but his last-second jumper against Oregon clanged off the front of the rim.

Moritz Wagner thought 'we actually might die'

One of the stars of Michigan's run to the Sweet 16, forward Moritz Wagner, wrote an article for the Player's Tribune to provide an inside look at what happened when the team plane slid off the runway.

Wagner said at first, he thought jokingly about television shows that have dramatic plane scenes. But when he looked back at the rest of his teammates and coaches as the plane careened off the runway, he thought they "actually might die."

In the post, 'Still Alive,' Wagner wrote about the plane crash, the ensuing Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. You can read the full article here.