Shame nobody seems to have audio of it.
The pilot apparently told him they would get to Israel 90 minutes before sunset and he promised Shabbos hospitality in his yeshiva.
As I've said before, I am positive that Rabbi Sorotzkin did what he thought was the best thing at that moment, however with the benefit of hindsight vision was that indeed a responsible thing to do?
At what point was the "getting to Israel 90 minutes before sunset" statement made? Before leaving the gate? On the way to the runway? When the captain asked everyone to sit down in order to get back to the gate (not likely as that is contradictory)?
Can we get to the bottom of what happened there, and maybe even try to get Rabbi Sorotzkin's take on what happened? Rabbi Sorotzkin is a seasoned traveler (I've been in the same cabin with him in the past, and he definitely flies way more often than I do) and should be well aware of things that can go wrong. I would presume that anyone that knows of him would give a lot of credence to his judgment in such a scenario.