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NEED TO KNOW
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the U.K. on Oct. 15
- Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the diversion was due to a crack found in the windshield of the aircraft
- Parnell also confirmed that Hegseth “is safe” following the incident, which occurred while Hegseth was on his way back to the U.S. from NATO’s Defense Ministers meeting in Belgium
A plane carrying Pete Hegseth was forced to make an emergency landing in the United Kingdom after a crack was found in the aircraft’s windshield.
“On the way back to the United States from NATO’s Defense Ministers meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth’s plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in an X post on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
While Parnell noted that everyone traveling on the aircraft was safe following the incident, he did not specify what might have caused the crack.
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty
“The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe,” Parnell continued.
The meeting, attended by Hegseth and all allied defense ministers, took place at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, according to NATO’s official website.
Hegseth later shared Parnell’s post to his own X account and wrote, “All good. Thank God. Continue mission!”
Last month, a helicopter carrying Donald and Melania Trump was forced to make an emergency landing in the U.K. due to a “hydraulic issue” with the aircraft.
The president and first lady were traveling in the Marine One helicopter near London when the incident occurred on Thursday, Sept. 18, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty
“Due to a minor hydraulic issue, and out of an abundance of caution, the [Marine One] pilots landed at a local airfield before reaching Stansted airport,” Leavitt shared with the White House press pool at the time.
“The president and first lady safely boarded the support helicopter,” she added.
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The incident occurred after Donald and Melania’s historic state visit with the British royal family, while they were traveling a short distance in Marine One from Chequers to Stansted Airport. They were heading back to reunite with Air Force One so that they could return home to Washington, D.C.
They eventually continued their journey home aboard Air Force One, a much larger airplane, slightly behind schedule.