To Think, We Might Have Lost Leonardo DiCaprio Last Night

Surely by now you've heard about the Moscow-bound Delta flight that blew an engine upon takeoff last night and then circled JFK for an hour dumping fuel until they could make a safe emergency landing. Close call. Even closer: National treasure Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the 200 people on board, reports the New York Daily News. Leonardo DiCaprio!

This either goes to prove the theory that celebrities are blessed with better than average luck, or that celebrities totally screw up the luck ratio on a passenger plane when they insist on boarding it instead of chartering like a normal rich person. (Thanks for that 3-hour delay, Ashley Judd.)

When the engine blew, most people, impressively, had the rather stoic reaction you'd expect of a group heading to Russia. Some cried, sure, but "Everybody went to drink something," said Elena Shalnova, 32, a vacationer from Moscow.

It hasn't been reported whether DiCaprio, who was on his way to a conference on tiger extinction, drank or wept, or both, or neither, but he "wishes to commend the actions of the pilot and flight crew in bringing the plane to a safe landing."

And, ever the gentleman,

DiCaprio signed autographs for the crew members after the emergency landing, his rep said.

Investigators are attributing the incident to a mechanical malfunction that caused the engine to blow.

But, seriously, we're glad that Leo and the 199 others who are not celebrities are safe. That would have been a crappy way to start out Thanksgiving week.

[JDoll]