e-Scapes
Travel trends, tips and tidbits from ABC News
RECENT POSTS
- U.K. Celebrates Darwin and Dating
- SJU v. SJO? Travel Gaffe, a Costly $2,150 Mistake
- Beating London's Winter Blues
- This Weekend in London…
- 2009 Marks the Year of the Ox & Obama
- Continental Tests Biofuels To Power Flight
- Tracking Flights, Tracking Santa
- Obamas Escape Chicago -- But Can't Escape the Photogs
- An Update on Winter Weather Delays
- Northwest Planes Get Wrapped in a New Coat of Paint
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Carrier Says Safety of Obama's Plane Was Not in Question
July 07, 2008 3:59 PM
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that it is investigating what caused Senator Barack Obama’s plane to make an unexpected landing today in St. Louis.
The presumptive Democratic nominee for president was traveling from Chicago to Charlotte when the pilot's first officer announced that they were experiencing controllability issues with the pitch of the MD-80 series aircraft.
Those on board were told the issue was a "minor little problem," and the plane remains in St. Louis this afternoon for maintenance. In statements today, the NTSB called the incident "an uneventful precautionary landing" and Midwest Airlines, the carrier that runs the charter plane, said "there was never an issue as to the safety of the flight."
The carrier said an emergency slide in the tail cone of the plane had inadvertently deployed in flight. The Federal Aviation Administration said today that a slide deploying in flight does indeed happen from time to time, and could cause flight control problems.
Indeed, on Monday NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker called this a "serious incident."
"It is extremely serious in this particular case," Rosenker said. "There are hydraulic lines back there. There are control cables that deal with the elevators and other areas of control surfaces for the aircraft, and could potentially make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fly the aircraft."
MD-80s series planes are some of the oldest aircraft that U.S. airlines are flying today, and their age means they're more likely than newer planes to require maintenance. The same type of plane was at the center of this spring's mass flight cancellations, when Delta and American cancelled thousands of flights to reinspect wiring on their MD-80 series aircraft.
The Air Transport Association has approximately 470 MD-80 series aircraft registered to their member airlines, the vast majority of which are operated by Delta and American. According to John Eakin, aviation safety consultant and president of Air Data Research in Helotes, Texas, MD-80 planes actually encompass a number of different aircraft models. Douglas manufactured several variations of the DC-9 as early as 1966. He added that when the company was taken over by McDonnell, their aircraft became known as MD planes of various types.
-Matt Hosford, Kate Barrett and Sunlen Miller
July 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1074)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Oh please...give me a freaking break. Anything to keep him out of having to actually talk about issues. I also heard his toast was slightly burnt..hrmmm...better get people's tax dollars to work!
iq0
Posted by: erikiq0 | Jul 7, 2008 4:10:36 PM
Who cares?
Posted by: Data | Jul 7, 2008 4:12:34 PM
Barack Obama has run an admirable campaign based on HOPE and CHANGE. A campaign that promises the American people a new level of transparency.
So why won't he show the public his birth certificate?
Posted by: Bart Hook | Jul 7, 2008 4:13:21 PM
You gotta be kidding me. So when they find out there was nothing wrong and no foul play, do I get my tax dollars back that they used to investigate this crap?
Posted by: BigB | Jul 7, 2008 4:13:36 PM
Uh-your post will probably be deleted soon as the networks love this guy.
Posted by: Rebecca | Jul 7, 2008 4:13:54 PM
I say better safe than sorry, and am glad investigators are on it. We need this candidate safe and sound. We have a country to fix.
Posted by: Walter | Jul 7, 2008 4:14:58 PM
I once asked a flight attendant, "what was her favorite plane to fly in." She said it was the MD-80 because of it's smooth operation and quieter cabin for the plane's smaller size (engines affixed near the tail, slightly away from the fueselage.)
Sad to read the article about these planes since they were preferred flying once upon a time.
Posted by: Commuter | Jul 7, 2008 4:15:00 PM
Posted by: erikiq0 | Jul 7, 2008 4:10:36 PM
Who cares?
-----------
You did.
Posted by: Cpn. Love (ret.) | Jul 7, 2008 4:15:00 PM
You've got to be kidding me.. The NTSB is going to "investigate" this..
Who wants to bet that the Obama campaign was screaming to NTSB that Obama's life was in danger because of this.
A very MINOR issue occured in flight..and the pilots took immediate corrective action to resolve the problem..in other words..they did what they were TRAINED to do.
No one was in danger..no lives were threatened.
But now..what you have..is a mountain being made out of a molehill with our tax dollars.
Posted by: Todd | Jul 7, 2008 4:15:04 PM
THIS is not what the FEDS should be investigating when it comes to OBAMA.
Posted by: Ben | Jul 7, 2008 4:15:19 PM
What issues are you referring to erikiq0? let us know what we ought to know about.
Posted by: josue | Jul 7, 2008 4:15:41 PM
one hour from chicago , Ill to charlot , NC is about the area over indianapolis !!!!! to land in St.louis is 260 Miles west of rout !!!! isnt that strange ?
Posted by: Steve | Jul 7, 2008 4:18:03 PM
Was that Hillary servicing tha lane prior to takeoff?
Posted by: Robby | Jul 7, 2008 4:19:01 PM
JUST WHAT HE NEEDS SOMETHING ELSE TO BLAME ON RACISM!!!! HIS WHINEY ASS NEEDS TO SHUT UP!
Posted by: CANDY | Jul 7, 2008 4:19:16 PM
Well its easy to see who is republican and who is democrat.. haha.
Posted by: Steve | Jul 7, 2008 4:19:20 PM
Was there an AWACS flying in the vicinity? Maybe it tried to take remote control of Obama's plane?
Posted by: Wacky | Jul 7, 2008 4:19:44 PM
HMMMMMMMmm there are some smart people here! Is there anything Obama won't do for a soundbite? Ha. And yes, someone needs to be following the money on him as well. His report os 4x the net worth of either Clinton and McCain..so where did he get it? He started out dirt poor and he isn't all that old???
Posted by: wiseinusa | Jul 7, 2008 4:20:12 PM
HIlliary! you ol' dog you! How did you manage to do that to poor Obama's plane? ;-)
Posted by: David | Jul 7, 2008 4:20:47 PM
Posted by: JACK | Jul 7, 2008 4:21:32 PM
Posted by: JACK | Jul 7, 2008 4:21:52 PM
It's a Karl Rove plot!!!!
Posted by: Jeff | Jul 7, 2008 4:22:15 PM
With the Obama "money machine" in full swing why doesn't he step up his airplane game from "some of the oldest aircraft that U.S. airlines are flying today." I'm sure campaign contributors would be more than willing to contribute to oh say, their candidate's plane not crashing...
Posted by: Stephen | Jul 7, 2008 4:22:52 PM
Gosh, that creep will do anything for attention.
Posted by: brigitte | Jul 7, 2008 4:23:10 PM
That Obama... he's becoming a drama queen! Seems something is happening to him all the time.
Now if ABC News can just investigate LEGITIMATE campaign issues... like Obama's birth records, Obama's sweetheart home loan deal, Obama's voting record, Obama's racism, Obama's ties with racists, Obama's ties with Chicago corruption, etc, etc.
But of course, that's not what ABC does. ABC News would much rather keep the focus off these things.
TexGEOas
Posted by: TexGEOas | Jul 7, 2008 4:23:20 PM
Re: Why won't Barack show is Birth Certificate?? Um he has. Please go to the following page:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert
Posted by: RG | Jul 7, 2008 4:23:45 PM
Post a comment
