Trump’s travel halted as emergency plane slide deployed on problematic new Air Force One
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
Donald Trump's departure aboard Marine One was delayed by around 20 minutes after an emergency evacuation slide unexpectedly deployed from the front door of his new Air Force One, ahead of his trip to the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas. Trump remained inside the helicopter with its door shut while staff checked the slide, later telling reporters "they want to make sure everything works perfectly" and insisting the aircraft was safe to fly, saying "I am, or I wouldn't be on it." The episode adds to a string of concerns about the controversial jet, a gift from Qatar, which Trump abandoned in Turkey in July on Secret Service advice.
The slide unfurled from the right-hand front door, opposite the door Trump normally uses to board and the same side he was secretly driven from during the Turkey incident. As the fault was addressed, the older backup Air Force One was moved into position behind the new plane with its own steps lowered as a precaution. Crew eventually deflated the slide and removed it, and the aircraft took off just after 3pm local time, potentially delaying Trump's scheduled 8:15pm remarks at the convention. The White House has not explained the cause of the malfunction.
- Emergency slide deployed on Trump's new Air Force One, delaying departure
- Trump waited roughly 20 minutes in Marine One during the check
- Follows earlier concerns over the Qatari-gifted jet's safety
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Trump's new Air Force One, delivered as a replacement for the ageing presidential fleet, has faced repeated technical problems since entering service. The most notable earlier incident came in July, when the president abandoned the plane in Turkey and was driven away from it on the advice of the Secret Service. The jet itself has drawn scrutiny partly because it was received as a gift from Qatar, an arrangement that attracted criticism when it was first announced.
The backup Air Force One, an older aircraft that has served presidents for decades, remains in reserve and is deployed alongside the new plane during transitions, ready to take over if needed. This dual arrangement reflects standard practice for ensuring the president always has an aircraft available, but its regular use in this case has drawn attention given the new plane's troubled record.
Air Force One is not just a mode of transport; it is a heavily modified aircraft built to keep the president connected and protected at all times, and any fault with it is treated as a security as well as a logistical matter. Reliability issues with the new plane matter because they affect the president's ability to travel on schedule for official engagements, such as the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas, and because they raise broader questions about the aircraft's readiness for service.
Full account
Donald Trump's departure from Joint Base Andrews was briefly held up on Tuesday after an emergency evacuation slide inflated from the doorway of his newly acquired, and already contentious, Air Force One. The president had landed by helicopter and was due to transfer straight onto the jet for a flight to the Republican Party's midterm convention, but he remained inside Marine One with its door shut for around twenty minutes while ground crews dealt with the unexpected deployment.
As Marine One sat on the tarmac, witnesses saw the older blue-and-white presidential aircraft being towed out of its hangar and positioned a short distance behind the newer, Qatari-donated Boeing, with its own front and rear stairs lowered. Shortly afterwards, an inflatable slide was seen extending from the front right-hand entrance of the new jet, the door opposite the one the president normally uses. Once Trump eventually emerged from the helicopter, he told waiting journalists that the episode was nothing more than a routine inspection, saying crews were confirming the slide worked properly before it was packed away and he boarded the aircraft as planned.
The incident inevitably revived scrutiny of the aircraft, which Trump himself sidestepped in July when he left it behind in Turkey rather than fly it onward, reportedly on security advice, instead travelling discreetly to a waiting smaller plane before continuing to Britain. That episode had prompted speculation that the jet was not yet fitted with the full suite of protective systems expected of a presidential aircraft, a suggestion the White House rejected at the time, attributing the change of plan instead to a wish for American troops stationed in England to view the new plane. The aircraft, handed over formally at the start of July after being accepted as a gift the previous year, has since been undergoing an expedited programme of security and other upgrades to bring it up to presidential standard.
Coverage of Tuesday's episode diverged in emphasis. One report placed more weight on Trump's own words defending the aircraft's safety, quoting him telling reporters he was confident enough to fly on it, and specified that the delayed journey was bound for Dallas. The other account focused more narrowly on the sequence of events at Andrews, including the precise time at which Marine One's door was still closed, and noted that it remained unclear afterwards whether the slide check would influence which of the two aircraft the president used for his next trip; it also linked the episode to a separate, ongoing dispute over a subpoena issued to New York Times journalists in connection with earlier reporting on the aircraft. The White House did not immediately offer its own explanation for the delay.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (Daily Mail) includes Trump's direct quote defending the plane's safety ('Yeah, I am, or I wouldn't be on it') and states the destination as Dallas for the GOP midterm convention; it gives a fuller account of the earlier Turkey incident, including the catering-truck detail.
Source 2 (Fox News) is more sparing on quotes, focuses on the precise timing of events (e.g. Marine One's door still closed at 2:19 p.m.) and notes uncertainty over whether the check would affect which aircraft Trump used next; it also connects the story to a separate report on a Justice Department subpoena of New York Times journalists over earlier Air Force One coverage, a detail absent from Source 1.
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