Air Force One Woes: Left-Wing Conspiracy?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A left-wing conspiracy?
On Monday, a flap on the wing of Air Force One (search) left its track, forcing President Bush to return from Oak Ridge, Tenn., in a smaller presidential plane, a Boeing 757 (search) rather than the 747 he arrived in.
Just over a week earlier, on the Fourth of July, a problem with an engine starter valve on the wing of his plane -- this time a 757 -- delayed Bush's departure from Hagerstown, Md. Another plane from the presidential fleet was flown in from Andrews Air Force Base (search) to take him on to West Virginia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two different planes. Two different wings. Both times they were left wings.
The plane troubles for the Republican president apparently were just a coincidence. And the White House said neither malfunction endangered Bush.
"One of the flaps on the wing was off its track and they thought it was best to have a 757 fly down from Andrews," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The replacement plane arrived moments before Bush's motorcade rolled onto the tarmac at McGhee-Air National Guard Base near Oak Ridge. The crew hustled to transfer lunch -- pita bread filled with chicken salad -- onto the substitute aircraft as the hobbled larger Air Force One taxied down the runway to be repaired.