A private jet carrying former President Trump and his team was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans after shortly taking off from the city.
The plane reportedly suffered an engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday night. Trump had just given an address at the spring donor meeting of the Republican National Committee in New Orleans, and around 11 p.m. the plane departed to take him home to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
The plane had traveled around 75 miles, reaching an altitude of about 28,000 feet, before being forced to turn around after one of its engines failed, reported the Washington Post and Politico.
The private plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, also had secret service members on board, along with other staff and Trump advisers.
Once Trump was back on the ground, the RNC reportedly found the former president another plane that belonged to a donor for him to use to get back to Mar-a-Lago. The former president landed in Florida around 3 a.m.
Hours earlier Trump had given a wide-ranging speech, where he spoke on a range of topics as he struck an aggressive tone on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At what point, do we cannot take this massive crime against humanity?’ Trump asked. ‘We can’t let it happen. We can’t let it continue to happen.’
He jokingly suggested the U.S. should ‘bomb the s**t out of Russia’ with planes bearing the Chinese flag, leading conflict between the two allies while the U.S. would ‘sit back and watch.’
Trump also went after NATO, calling it a ‘paper tiger’ and said the US cannot just stand by while Ukraine is invaded, according to Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey, who obtained a recording of Trump’s remarks.
Read Also: Trump blames ‘weak’ Biden for Russian invasion of Ukraine
During his presidency, Trump had reportedly said multiple times that he wanted to pull the United States out of NATO, a move that aides scrambled to counter.
Trump also went after some of his foes by name during the address, calling Rep. Adam Schiff ‘watermelon head’ and George Conway a ‘son of a b***h.’
Former Vice President Mike Pence also gave an address at the spring meeting, after recent friction between him and Trump over the 2020 election. It’s not clear if the pair spoke.
Trump owns at least three private jets. His Boeing 757, worth $100 million, recently underwent repairs.
The seat belts in that plane are all 24 carat gold, as are the bathtub’s fixtures and other details, and the lounge area has a full cinema entertainment system.
Most of the on-board space is occupied by a bedroom, guest room and dining room.
While a Boeing this size could usually hold 200 people, the refurbished plane accommodates just 43 passengers and has a range of 4,100 nautical miles.
The former president also owns a nine-seater Cessna Citation X – one of the fastest private jets around – with the code sign N725DT, which was used frequently during the election campaign.
The plane flies at 705 mph – slightly less than the speed of sound. It can fly at an altitude of 51,000ft.
Operating the Cessna does not come cheap: a short round-trip flight from Washington to Philadelphia would cost around $17,000.
Trump also owns three Sikorsky S-76 helicopters – based in New York, Florida and Scotland – for members of his clubs and guests to use at their convenience.
MailOnline