Midwest Airlines, which operated the charter flight, called for a service check of the tail cone evacuation slide area every 99 flight hours; on the last service check June 5, 2008, no anomalies were reported. After the check, the aircraft flew three flight legs with Obama on board.
The July 7, 2008, flight carried two flight crew members, four flight attendants, two airline representatives and 43 passengers -- including Obama, journalists, campaign staff and Secret Service personnel.
An internal investigation of the Secret Service relating to its security sweeps on the aircraft indicated that no personnel or support personnel had interfered with hardware or systems relating to the tail cone evacuation slide.
On the morning of the flight, Obama was to deliver an economic speech in Charlotte. Instead, he delivered the speech by telephone from St. Louis.
After the unscheduled landing he joked to reporters: "Just thought we'd spice things up a bit today."
--
ksherry@tribune.com
