A plane carrying former President of the United States Donald Trump suffered engine failure late Wednesday evening over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Orleans shortly after taking off from the city.
The plane carrying Trump was forced to immediately return to the airport and make the unscheduled landing in Louisiana shortly before 11 p.m., according to people familiar with the episode. The plane was attempting to take Trump home to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., from the Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans, where he spoke to some of the Republican Party’s top donors at a private event.
The flight had gone approximately 75 miles after taking off from New Orleans Lakefront Airport, reaching an altitude of about 28,000 feet before turning around, according to tracking data from ADS-B Exchange. The Dassault Falcon 900 carried a retinue of Secret Service agents, other support staffers, Trump and some of his advisers, according to the people familiar with the episode. One of the plane’s engines failed, the people said.
As the jet came in to land, an air traffic controller told the pilot, “There will be vehicles following you down the runway.”
