By Steve Holland and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump departed Washington for Texas on Wednesday aboard the Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar after an emergency slide was accidentally deployed and was removed.
Military personnel accidentally triggered the slide, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The slide was activated shortly before Trump was due to board for a flight to Dallas for the first-ever Republican midterm convention. The issue briefly delayed Trump’s departure.
Asked by a journalist whether he was sure that the plane was safe to fly, Trump said: “Yeah, I am, or I wouldn’t be on it.”
The emergency slide was seen being taken away.
The Boeing 747-8 typically has 12 emergency inflatable evacuation slides. The slides are designed to allow passengers to reach the ground safely from a height of about 30 feet.
The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump started flying aboard the jumbo jet on July 1 after accepting the plane as a gift last year. There was an accelerated effort to renovate the 747 before Trump started using it.
Trump said last week the 747 would be taken out of service in October for unspecified security upgrades that would take about 60 days.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, David Shepardson, Gram Slattery, Costas Pitas and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Michelle Nichols and Cynthia Osterman)
