Plane Glitch Grounds Obama in St. Louis

Aircraft Forced to Make Detour and Land After Emergency Slide Deploys in Flight

CHARLOTTE, July 7 -- In a strikingly literal detour from his message of the day, Sen. Barack Obama found himself stuck in St. Louis on Monday, phoning in remarks to an audience here after his campaign plane was forced to land following a mechanical glitch midair.

Midwest Airlines, which runs the chartered MD-80, said in a statement that "an emergency slide located in the tail cone of the plane deployed in flight" after takeoff -- insisting, despite that ominous diagnosis, that the safety of those on board was "never an issue." The plane was the same one used by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bid for the Democratic nomination.

Still, the incident was enough to divert the plane from its scheduled Chicago-to-Charlotte itinerary, prompting a landing in Missouri. Obama held a press availability with reporters there and talked about the economy as planned, but the disruption threw the day off-kilter as the campaign scrapped an event in North Carolina and scrambled to get the candidate to Atlanta in time for a big-ticket fundraiser.

"Just thought we would spice things up a little bit today," Obama told reporters on his plane after the landing.

"Were you frightened?" one asked.

"Well, you know, anytime a pilot says something's not working the way it's supposed to, you make sure you tighten your seat belt," Obama said. He cheerfully described the unscheduled landing as "a first."

In a subsequent phone call to supporters gathered for a small event in Charlotte, Obama said he was "just heartbroken" not to make the stop, which aides said will be rescheduled. "I want all of you to know in Northern Carolina, we are going to be campaigning actively there," Obama said. "There's been a tradition of Democrats conceding the state before the battle is even joined. That is not what is going to be happening this time." Several Democrats, including Kay Hagan, who is running to unseat Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R), spoke in his place.

Problems with candidate aircraft are not uncommon in national campaigns, which often take to the air for as many as five flights a day. The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that it would investigate Monday's incident.

On Tuesday, Obama is scheduled to hold an event in Atlanta before returning to Washington for a speech on Wednesday.