Flirted with disaster

The moments Pence’s plane flirted with disaster

'You felt like it was hydroplaning in a vehicle, you felt like you were skidding,' a passenger aboard the Republican vice presidential nominee's plane said.

By Matthew Nussbaum

For months, reporters traveling aboard Mike Pence’s campaign plane have joked about the hard, bone-shaking landings from small Iowa airports to major metropolitan hubs as the Republican vice presidential candidate has crisscrossed the country. The “Make America Great Again"-emblazoned 737 has been bumping its way across the swing states, prompting one reporter to joke morbidly a few weeks ago that a “Pence plane veers off the runway” story had been pre-written.

Over the course of a few seconds Thursday night, those jokes became a jarring reality as the plane slid off a rain-slicked runway upon landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport, injecting near-disaster in the 2016 presidential campaign.

POLITICO spoke with six people who were aboard the plane, granting anonymity in some cases so they could speak candidly.

Pence kicked off the day with a rally in Omaha, Nebraska, then flew to Fort Dodge, Iowa. And even for the passengers used to the plane’s rough landings, Fort Dodge seemed worse than usual.

The landing there “was especially bad,” according to one passenger. The plane “bounced off the runway and then touched down a second time.”

“It was a hard landing, it’s always hard, right? But Iowa was extra hard, like people gasped,” another passenger said.

After rallying at Iowa Central Community College, Pence and his traveling entourage returned to the airport only to find themselves delayed by the weather at their next stop: LaGuardia.

And so, to kill the time, Pence tossed around a football with staff, Secret Service agents and reporters, a brief respite from the chaos of the campaign on a patch of grass beside an Iowa runway.

Eventually, they were cleared to leave. Pence, joined by his wife, Karen, and eldest daughter Charlotte, boarded the plane along with staff, Secret Service, press and the crew for the about two-hour flight to New York.

On the way, the passengers dined on their choice of salmon or pork. The pork, which came with a loaded potato, was the best meal served on the plane so far, one passenger remarked. For many of those on board, it was just another dinner in the sky, away from family, friends and home as this long campaign nears its finish.

“Everybody was chilling and talking like we always do,” one passenger said. “It was cloudy the whole way and people had checked the weather, knew it would be bumpy.”

“Coming into LaGuardia you can’t see any of the lights or any of the city, the landing gear is down, you still can’t see anything,” said one passenger.

Still, a sort of gallows levity endured among those on board.

One Secret Service agent joked, “93 percent chance we crash.” Another passenger jokingly said, “Brace for impact.”

As the plane approached the runway, slicing through the rain, something seemed off.

“I was like we’re like halfway over the runway and we haven’t landed,” one passenger said.

It was a “rough landing, the same way it usually is,” said one. But then things changed: “Then we felt we were kind of skidding, and the ground was getting shakier and more rough.”

Objects left on seats and armrests began to tumble as the plane thundered down the runway.

“You felt like it was hydroplaning in a vehicle, you felt like you were skidding,” a passenger said.

“It skidded a little bit, it went up and down and then you could feel that just the movement of the plane, it didn’t feel like we were on the tarmac any more,” another passenger said.

“It felt like they were slamming on the brakes the entire time,” said another passenger.

“Grass and mud starts coming up on the windows of the plane, then we skid and we’re going sideways, then it gets really rough, like real bumpy.”

And with that moment, as the plane skidded off the runway, came a jarring question: What happens next?

“I didn’t know what the end of it was going to be,” a passenger said. “Are we going to stop in the water? Are we going to stop in the grass? Are we going to hit something? … What’s the end game here?”

And then there was the smell.

“It smelled like rubber, like burnt rubber.”

And suddenly the plane stopped.

“And then finally we came to a halt and we were like OK that was really bad,” said another.

Outside the windows in the back of the plane was darkness. But farther up, where Pence and staff sat, mud had splashed up and splattered on windows.

Up front, there was a moment of stunned silence.

“We’re just trying to process it,” one said. “After that first 45 seconds of the plane stopped everyone realized like OK I think we’re safe”

A Secret Service agent hustled forward, with one or two yellow pouches in hand. He knelt by Gov. Pence and conferred with him for a few seconds.

Usually, the Secret Service jumps up upon landing and begins grabbing their bags and preparing to exit. But this time was different. An announcement instructed passengers to stay seated, and they did.

For the press in the back, the confusion lasted a few minutes before Pence, accompanied by his press secretary, Marc Lotter, made his way back.

Pence asked the reporters if they were OK, and told them the plane had slid off the runway. He told them about the mud splattered on the window.

As Pence and Lotter walked back to the front of the plane, one reporter remarked: “Hey, governor: 2016.”

Pence laughed.

The reporters aboard the plane began to quickly tweet out the news, email their news desks, and make phone calls.

“Pence plane skidded off the runway upon landing in LGA. Everybody is fine, plane intact, rescue is on the way,” wrote ABC’s Ines de La Cuetara.

“Everyone is okay, including the candidate — but the Pence campaign plane slid off runway upon landing at LaGuardia,” wrote NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard, with a picture of the rain-soaked window.

“Pence's campaign plane has slid off the runway at LGA airport. NO INJURIES. Crazies[t] landing any of us have experienced. Gov. Pence is fine,” wrote Dan Gallo of Fox News.

The Secret Service exited the plane first off of a staircase brought to the rear of the plane. Then a firefighter poked his head through the door and instructed the press to follow, and to leave their bags behind.

Stepping out into the rain and the cold night air, the passengers were met by scores of emergency personnel, with flashing sirens lighting the scene.

“You really didn’t know the gravity of it until you got outside and saw the damage that it did,“ one passenger said.

“We left the plane and that’s when it started feeling kind of crazy,” said another.

“It was mud, it was loud, rainy, the emergency vehicle sirens, it was all that,” said another. “We were trying to figure out what the f--- had happened … You were a little more shaken up now that you realize how bad it was.”

Pence greeted the emergency workers affably, as he always does.

“Pence was actually chatting up the first responders, he was really calm, freaking unflappable the entire time,” one passenger said.

“It was dark and we’re getting ushered away from it,” another passenger said. “It was like you were walking through wet concrete.” The left wheel was dug into that substance, while the right wheel was on the grass, that passenger said.

Soon, Pence was ushered into the motorcade and on his way. Pence called into a fundraiser at Trump Tower and, no longer able to attend in person, addressed the crowd on speaker phone. He also spoke by phone with Donald Trump.

The press beat Pence back to the hotel and caught him entering. He gave them the thumbs-up and the “OK” sign. A new plane is being brought to New York and Pence will attend his scheduled events Friday in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, his spokesman said.

The staff, press and Secret Service were unable to get their luggage Thursday night, but that inconvenience was minor compared with what could have been, after the bumpy landings that have been a trademark of the campaign took a dark turn.

“It’s crazy to think that we’ve been joking about this for so long,” one said.