LEFT WING PROBLEMS!
Mechanical Problem Found on Air Force One
Mon Jul 12, 6:05 PM
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - A left-wing conspiracy? On Monday, a flap on the
wing of Air Force One left its track, forcing President Bush (news -
web sites) to return from Oak Ridge, Tenn., in a smaller presidential
plane, a Boeing 757 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 to take
him on to West Virginia.
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.
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.
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