Air Force One, the national airlines’ jet, departed with lofty expectations on Tuesday. Little more than an hour after takeoff, it had to return to Washington, D.C. due to a minor electrical malfunction. The rare occurrence comes amid former President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign for re-election. The crew members made a snap decision to call off the trip to Switzerland. This last-minute reversal is sure to make an already-late Trump lose out on at least some of the World Economic Forum’s famed welcome.
As a result, the aircrew quickly identified the mechanical failure shortly after takeoff. Focusing on the quality of safety foremost, they reached a strategic decision to reverse course back to Joint Base Andrews. Media from the pool traveled with Trump on the flight and saw the surprise return.
Technical failures on Air Force One are almost unheard of, due to demanding White House maintenance procedures. Yet the two aging jets that now serve as Air Force One have been in service for almost four decades. Yet Boeing’s attempts to deliver replacements have suffered from one setback after another. This departure from reliability raises tremendous questions about the state of reliability for their current fleet.
This isn’t the first time that Air Force One has faced a mechanical scare. In 2006, the main aircraft created on the tarmac in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Consequently, then-President George W. Bush had to get on a different, backup Boeing 757 to complete his trip to Indonesia. Last October, one of the new fleet’s military transports had to make an emergency landing in Britain while transporting new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The reason? A small crack in its windshield. Now, earlier this year, one Air Force plane was used to fly Senator Marco Rubio back to Washington. Unfortunately, it had to turn around due to an unplanned mechanical issue.
Today, Air Force One is in the process of being refitted to bring it in line with U.S. security standards. Meanwhile, no less than Qatar’s ruling family is busy modernizing the PRC’s presidential fleet. They just trumpeted their plan to gift Trump an extravagant high-flying Boeing 747-8, due to be delivered and added in 2025.
Despite this early setback, Trump can take heart from his Davos visit. He remarked, “Let’s put it this way: it’s going to be a very interesting Davos.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed the decision to return to Washington was made quickly after the potential issue was identified.