Obama's Marine One flight to Camp David cut short by weather
It was the 498th time since taking office that President Obama set foot aboard Marine One. This time daughter Sasha was with him for what they thought would be a routine 40-minute flight to Camp David.
But the twin-engine VH-3D Sea King, one of a fleet of helicopters that serve as Marine One, didn't make it to the presidential retreat.
Because of bad weather over Camp David, in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, the chopper landed at the municipal airport in Frederick, Md., about 42 miles northwest of Washington, better than half way to Camp David. The president and his daughter stepped off Marine One, and boarded a motorcade for the remaining 28 miles to Camp David.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest would tell reporters later that "a bad weather call" had been made about 20 minutes before the president and his daughter took off from the South Lawn of the White House.
It had been decided that Marine One could safely fly the president to Frederick, and the Secret Service had motorcade vehicles ready there to drive him the rest of the way.
Interestingly, Earnest said Mr. Obama had not been informed of the plan until he was aboard Marine One.
The arrangement spared Mr. Obama a drive out of Washington in pre-holiday traffic as the nation's capital began emptying out for the end-of-summer Labor Day Weekend.
Even with a police escort, the ride can take two hours or longer.
Flying to Frederick spared him and Sasha about 90 minutes on the road.
But it'll be a short weekend for President Obama. On Sunday, he leaves Camp David to make an inspection tour of the damage inflicted by Hurricane Irene last weekend on Paterson, New Jersey.
And on Monday, President Obama travels to Detroit to address some 10,000 people at a Labor Day rally in Detroit - where he'll preview some of the proposals he'll unveil in his address to Congress on Thursday evening.
