The Republican presidential candidate was heading to a campaign rally in Montana
Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump walks toward the stage to speak at a rally at Montana State University on August 9, 2024 in Bozeman, Montana. © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP/Michael Ciaglo
Former US President Trump’s Boeing 757 plane, dubbed “Trump Force One,” was diverted on Friday on its way to his rally in Montana due to a mechanical problem.
The plane, heading to Bozeman, where Trump was expected to hold a campaign rally on Friday evening, landed safely instead of Billings, the staff confirmed. The two Montana cities are separated by roughly 140 miles (225 km).
“His aircraft had mechanical issues, and he was diverted into the Billings-Logan Airport,” airport officials said without elaborating on the nature of the technical problem. “He’s continuing to Bozeman on a private jet,” they added.
Trump’s campaign posted a video of him upon landing in which he appeared unfazed and said he was glad to be in Montana not mentioning however anything about the landing.
“I just landed in a really beautiful place, Montana,” he said in the clip, while still aboard his plane.
“So beautiful flying over, and you just look down, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he added, noting that he has “a very high rating in Montana.”
The plane’s mechanical problem was not related to any security issue and held a “complete sweep of the airport” before Trump was allowed to board the new plane, NBC news reported citing the the Secret Service.
The rally in Bozeman marked Trump’s first outdoor event since the July, 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
The former US president narrowly avoided death after a bullet fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks – who was subsequently fatally shot by Secret Service agents – missed the ex-president’s head by millimeters, grazing his ear.