Obama's Plane Makes Unscheduled Landing

Candidate's Plane Lands Safely In St. Louis After Mechanical Issue Arises

(CBS/AP)  The airplane carrying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a precautionary landing in St. Louis on Monday after the crew had a problem keeping the nose up on takeoff from Chicago.

The plane, an MD-80 Midwest charter, struggled to keep the nose at the necessary angle, as it left for Charlotte, N.C., the pilot said. Later, Midwest Airlines said the problem developed because an emergency slide located in the tail cone of the plane deployed in flight and never threatened the safety of the flight.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the plane did not declare an emergency but "requested a diversion for mechanical issues they called a flight control problem."

The National Transportation Safety Board says it plans to investigate the problem.

After landing, Obama read the paper in the front cabin, but ventured briefly to chat with the press at one point.

"I just thought we'd spice things up a little bit today," Obama joked. (Click here to watch the video)

The Illinois senator and a small entourage eventually left the plane to wait out the maintenance at a local hotel; the North Carolina trip was postponed. But he called the Charlotte event to apologize for his absence and summarize his speech on the nation's economic woes. He planned to expand on that economic message later to his traveling press corps here in Missouri, a battleground state he hopes to win in the fall.

"I'm so sorry that I'm not down there," Obama said in the telephone call. "We had a little glitch in our plane." He promised to visit Charlotte soon.

Obama had two fundraisers in Atlanta scheduled for Monday evening.

Upon takeoff from Chicago, passengers had felt the plane dip briefly, causing a stomach-rolling sensation like being on a roller coaster, but the unexpected movement didn't alarm the frequent fliers on board.

Later, the pilot said, "We detected a little bit of controllability issue in terms of our ability to control the aircraft in the pitch, which is the nose up and nose down mode," His name was not released in accordance with Midwest policy.

"The autopilot and the aircraft are just fine. As we descended, whatever was inhibiting our ability has now been rectified. However, just for safety purposes we are going to be stopping in St. Louis and making sure that there's nothing binding our controls," he said.

The landing at 9:51 a.m. CDT was normal.

Obama, his staff, the Secret Service entourage and the press sat on the plane for over an hour as it was being checked out at Lambert Airport.

During his visit with reporters, Obama shook his head "no" when asked if he was worried.

"Anytime a pilot says something's not working the way it's supposed to, then you make sure you tighten your seat belt," Obama said. "Everything seemed under control. The pilots knew what they were doing."

Obama's campaign charter hasn't made a precautionary landing before.

"This is a first," he said.

[johnmcsame]

The reason voters will not elect Hussein:

1. They don''''''''''''''''t want a candidate that has been in a twenty year relationship with Reverend Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ.
2. They don%u2019t%u2019 want a candidate that has a twenty year relationship with Father Pflaeger as his compass in life
3. They don%u2019t want a candidate that went to a church that supports Louis Farrakhan, an anti Semitic racist.
4. They don''''''''''''''''t want to defend Black Liberation theology.
5. They don%u2019t want a candidate that lies about his relationship with Tony Rezko, the Syrian Criminal that sold his property to Obama and supported his campaign.
6. They don''''''''''''''''t want a candidate that could work with a domestic terrorist, William Ayers.
7. They don%u2019t want a candidate that Hamas supports.
8. They don%u2019t want a candidate that Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam support
9. They don%u2019t want a candidate that has a wife that has just now realized she was proud of our country.
10. They don%u2019t want a candidate that denies Florida and Michigan their voices

[johnmcsame]

11. They don%u2019t want a candidate that mentions 57 states in his speeches. 50 states in the USA and 57 states in the Nation of Islam (IOC website)
12. They don%u2019t want a candidate that fights unfair and steals Michigan delegate votes from his opponent.
13. They don%u2019t want a candidate that feels sorry to leave a church that is anti American and that preaches hatred
14. They don''''''''t want a candidate that is inexperienced.
15. They don%u2019t want a candidate that considers it a loss to not to be able to attend his anti American, racist Church.
16. They don%u2019t want a candidate that has a %u201Cnon practicing%u201D Muslim father, but avoids the entire discussion of his father.
17. They don%u2019t%u2019 want a candidate that won%u2019t debate
18. They don%u2019t want a candidate that has done nothing for humanity except talk about it.

[minnick8-2009]

Makes you wonder whether right-wing covert operatives were trying to bring Obama''''s plane down like they did Paul Wellstone''''s.

Posted by mtracy9

Yes, it must be the Republicans'' fault.

I was just thinking that the political news was a lot more interesting when Hillary was still in the race. Too bad she isn''t.

[realpatriot1]

RowdyWicca,

The military understands better than anyone that he hasn''t changed his position on Iraq by conceding that he will need to refine the logistics of his position.

His support in North Carolina remains across the board and certainly is not limited to military support. The same is true across the country and you know it.

Creeper08,

If I''m supposed to be impressed that you''re a registered Democrat, I''m not.

Your boy McCain would kill to have such a "downward
slide". Regarding him eeking out the nomination, if McCain had run in the Democratic Primary Joe Biden and Cris Dodd would''ve had more votes.

[creeper00]

"Also, stumping for Perdue was not the primary purpose of his visit(he was promoting his economic policies) but to the extent that it was it undercuts your logic about his popularity. So do the polls."


Posted by realpatriot1 at 10:41 AM : Jul 08, 2008

The only poll that matters is the one that will be taken on November 4. Your candidate''s downward slide started long ago, as evidenced by the fact that he appears to have barely squeaked out the nomination despite months of support from the media. By the time November gets here it should be complete.

Oh, by the way...I''m a registered Democrat.

[rowdywicca]

Posted by realpatriot1 at 10:41 AM : Jul 08, 2008

His support in NC WAS mostly the military people who will of course now be looking at his change of stance on Iraq...

The Mountain people alrady knew better!

[realpatriot1]

creeper00,

If his support is such a kiss of death in NC then how''s come the entire leadership of the General Assembly, both Gubanatorial candidates, and those members of Congress who endorsed endorsed him early?

He may not be popular in the mountain counties but he''s plenty popular along the I-85 corridor where the majority of North Carolinians now live.

Also, stumping for Perdue was not the primary purpose of his visit(he was promoting his economic policies) but to the extent that it was it undercuts your logic about his popularity. So do the polls.

[creeper00]

Obama was supposed to go to Charlotte, NC to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue. When his plane made the unscheduled stop in Saint Louis he decided rather than take a commercial flight that he''d phone in his speech.

Great idea. Too bad he couldn''t even remember the name of the lady he was supposed to be campaigning for:

"Finally I want to make sure that I acknowledge Lieutenant Governor Bedford who was going to be the next Governor of North Carolina. She is running an outstanding race and I think she%u2019s going to have a chance to address all of you before this thing is over."

I don''t suppose it''s important in the long run to get the name right if your candidate only "was" going to be the next Governor of North Carolina anyway. Obama must be smarter than I thought. He obviously knows that his support is the kiss of death.

[jfffnn1]

The fact that people still think Sen. Obama is Muslim is indicstive of abysmal stupidity.The notion that the Sen. practices Black Liberation Theology and is anti-semetic is equally absurd and tired.It''s time too move on.

[irliberal]

Lol! Leave it to a republican to screw up everything. Even an assassination attempt.

Does Karl Rove have to do EVERYTHING himself??

[skyk-2009]

Please state what positions he has changed on. I love it when you "spin doctors" make a statement and do not back it up.

Posted by gocubs58 at 07:26 AM : Jul 08, 2008

I too would like to hear that response!! I know McCain has flip flopped a lot but I find Obama''s positions to be pretty consistent!

[gocubs58]

Posted by johnmcsame - Obama is a fake. He is a fraud. There is nothing to see in him but chameleon who changes position as often as the winds changes direction.
--------

Please state what positions he has changed on. I love it when you "spin doctors" make a statement and do not back it up.

[mtracy9]

Makes you wonder whether right-wing covert operatives were trying to bring Obama''s plane down like they did Paul Wellstone''s.

[dimmu19]

What a joke. Republican''s can never take criticism... Big babies !!!

Watch as Carol Kreck, a 61-year-old librarian from Denver, Colorado, is escorted away from a John McCain town hall event and threatened with arrest if she returns.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/61yearold_librarian_denied_at_McCain_town_0707.html

[samthetvcat]

Oh, I was reading one article and put my comment under another - LOL

[cessna172_]

The Pilots followed faa regulation and besides both candidates have the same TFR from flight service, basically an escort .

[cessna172_]

The Pilots were following FAA regulation, and coming from Chicago they already were under a TFR from FS for other aircraft to be aware of anyhow .

Both candidate''s have the same TFR from flight service .

[samthetvcat]

These two buffoons never say anything new - McDorkus still thinks it''s the eighties, and Barack''s all confidence he''s going to coast into the White House just by saying he''s not GOP.

Tax cuts and tax raises, free trade and fair trade . . . what about stuff like raising capital? Isn''t there a correlation between a country being able to raise capital and achieve economic growth? What about stuff like tinkering with Sarbanes-Oxley and placing limits on the percentage of foreign investments one can have in one''s portfolio?

Not that I really care what either candidate ever says any more because no matter what platform McCain takes, Barack says ''me too!''. But for the welfare of our economy, it might be to our advantage to pin them down on where they stand on stuff like that, otherwise isn''t there a danger they might not be motivated to really put a lot of effort into thinking up solutions?

I mean like that hokey gas tax holiday, and closing the ''Enron loophole'' were such panders . . . maybe some of the experts have good ideas that aren''t being heard because they''re not ''politically expedient'' or whatever (?)

[johnmcsame]

Hispanics distrust Obama who is an advocate of Black Liberation theology.

Hispanics support John McCain.

[johnmcsame]

Jews view Obama as being antisemitic.

Jews support John McCain.