MD80 Experienced Pitch Control Issues, Reports Say

A chartered Midwest Airlines MD80 transporting US Senator and likely Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop in St. Louis, MO Monday, after the plane's flight crew experienced "controllability issues" in pitch.

ABC News states the plane encountered thunderstorms shortly after takeoff from Chicago. The aircraft encountered turbulence -- described by ABC as "an abnormally large dip" -- after which the plane's crew reported difficulties controlling the nose-up attitude of the aircraft.

Midwest Airlines spokesman Michael J. Brophy gave an unusual account of what happened. Brophy told the New York Times an emergency slide carried in the MD-82's aft-tailcone exit began to deploy in flight, putting pressute on control cables leading to the aircraft's horizontal stablizer.

"As the pilot explained it to us, there was some stiffness in the controls," he said. "There was never a loss of control or anything like that," pointedly noting the problem was not related to earlier jackscrew problems on MD80-type aircraft, that brought down Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in January 2000.

Obama, who was heading to an event in Charlotte, NC with 44 members of his campaign team and the press corps, admitted to some apprehension when he heard the pilots were having problems.

"Anytime a pilot says that something's not working the way it's supposed to, then you know, you make sure you tighten you seat belt," he said after the aircraft made an uneventful landing at STL. "Everything seemed under control, the pilots knew what they were doing."

The incident marks the third time Obama has had difficulties related to air travel during his campaign. Earlier this year, a Gulfstream II carrying the Illinois senator clipped the wing of another plane parked on the ramp at Chicago's Midway Airport; in November 2007, Obama's plane accidentally landed in Des Moines, IA... about 150 miles west of its planned destination of Cedar Rapids, where he was to make a campaign appearance.

Obama was using the MD-80 while his regular plane, a Boeing 757, is undergoing maintenance and renovation, according to the campaign.

FMI: www.barackobama.com, www.midwestairlines.com