J.D. Vance’s Campaign Plane Makes Emergency Landing Due to Door Malfunction.
J.D. Vance, Republican senatorial candidate for Ohio, experienced an unexpected mid-flight incident while aboard his chartered Boeing 737 campaign plane on Friday afternoon. Dubbed ‘Trump Force Two,’ the aircraft was forced to return to Milwaukee after a malfunction in the door seal.
The issue led to the pilot declaring an emergency, prompting the plane’s return to Milwaukee. Once the problem had been resolved, Trump Force Two resumed its original flight path back to Cincinnati, Vance’s home base. Vance has been making day trips to campaign events across battleground states in the 737, accompanied by key staff, Secret Service agents, and a few journalists since being named as Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential pick.
On Friday, August 16, 2020, J.D. Vance received the endorsement of the Milwaukee Police Association. During the event in Milwaukee, local police officers joined Trump’s running mate.
Upon landing back in Milwaukee, photojournalist Asher Heimermann observed that the Milwaukee County Fire Department was on the scene to inspect the aircraft before it took off again for its intended destination. Scanner traffic revealed that 43 people were on board at the time of the incident.
While Donald Trump travels aboard his private Boeing 757, equipped with a bedroom and state-of-the-art music system, Vance’s campaign plane is less luxurious in comparison. The aircraft features two rows of seats down its length, complemented by a couple of conference tables.
The tail of the plane is covered with names of donors, while the interior is adorned with campaign slogans such as ‘Drain the Swamp of Washington Corruption.’ This recent incident follows a similar aviation issue experienced by Donald Trump’s own aircraft on Friday, which was forced to divert during a trip to Montana due to a mechanical problem.
Trump’s plane landed in Billings where the former president switched planes to continue his journey to Bozeman, where he held a rally. The mid-flight scare experienced by J.D. Vance is just another example of how unpredictable and challenging the life of a political candidate can be.