Plane carrying Hegseth makes emergency landing due to cracked windshield
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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth attending a meeting at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on Oct 15.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in the UK after suffering a cracked windshield, according to the Pentagon.
Mr Hegseth was heading back to the US from Belgium when the incident occurred off southern Ireland.
The plane reported the 7700 code, indicating a general emergency, lowered its altitude to 10,000 feet 3,048m and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, according to data on Flightaware.com.
Mr Hegseth was returning home after a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels.
“The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.
The decades-old government planes that ferry US Cabinet secretaries, vice-presidents and first ladies around the world are prone to breakdown.
Early in the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plane was forced to return to Washington because of a cracked windshield shortly after takeoff.
The plane carrying Hegseth is a Boeing C-32, a modified 757-200 passenger jet, and is nearly 30 years old. BLOOMBERG
