Air Force Two: Lights went out

Air Force Two: Lights went out

25/02/2007 12:11 - (SA) 

Panic over Cheney’s Air Force 2

Singapore - US vice-President Dick Cheney’s plane suffered electrical problems before stopping in Singapore on Sunday but officials denied the halt was an emergency measure.

Air Force 2’s landing at Paya Lebar Air Base en route from Sydney was a scheduled refuelling stop, they said, dismissing reports of a last-minute diversion.

"This was the pre-planned, scheduled refuelling stop. We were not diverted," said spokesperson Lea Anne McBride.

The problem was "an issue with the electrical system," she said. Asked whether the vice-president ever lost contact with the ground, she said: "The vice president always had communications."

A US official travelling with Cheney, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the problem was "a power surge" and "a call was made back to Sydney with the status".

Cheney on Sunday wrapped up a week-long visit to Japan and Australia. The US vice-president, who travels in a specially configured Boeing 757-200 airliner, left Sydney Airport at about 09:00 (22:00 GMT).

After his departure, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had heard reports of mechanical problems but had no details.

"I have had a report to that effect," he told reporters in Sydney. "I’m not aware of the full circumstances."

A spokesperson for the US consulate in Sydney said Cheney’s plane had been scheduled to make a fuel stop in Singapore and was due to depart on time.

The White House also denied Air Force 2 had been diverted.

"The vice president’s plane is fine and it is stopping for a regularly scheduled stop to refuel in Singapore," Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokesperson, told AFP.

"I think there was a small electrical problem but... it was not a safety concern," she said.

An AFP reporter on the plane said Air Force 2’s reading lights, in-flight video and power outlets were not working and no hot meal was served, describing the problems as a minor inconvenience.

Cheney’s four-day visit to Sydney, during which he met with Howard over military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, was marred by anti-war protests and traffic chaos.

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Problem hits Cheney’s plane
25/02/2007 07:35 - (SA) 

Washington - US vice president Dick Cheney’s plane had a small mechanical problem on Sunday but there were no safety concerns and it would make a planned refuelling stop in Singapore, the White House said.

White House spokesperson Emily Lawrimore said there was a problem with a generator on the plane, which left Sydney’s international airport about 09:00 on Sunday (22:00 GMT Saturday), but it posed no safety issues and the aircraft was fine.

A flight from Sydney to Singapore takes about seven hours.

Cheney had been visiting Australia as part of a trip to thank Washington’s Iraq war allies Japan and Australia.

He was returning to the United States on Sunday. The refuelling stop in Singapore was already scheduled, the White House said.

"Nobody is scheduled to get off the plane. Nobody is scheduled to get on the plane," a source in Singapore, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard earlier told reporters in Sydney: "I am not aware of the full circumstances and I have not been told except that it has been diverted."

A Reuters photographer at Sydney airport said Air Force 2 had proceeded towards the runway as normal and revved its engines before the engines appeared to decelerate.

A mobile stairway was sent out to the plane but a door in the plane opened and an unidentified figure appeared in the hatchway and waved the stairway off, the Reuters photographer said.

The door was then closed and the plane proceeded to the runway and took off.

Cheney arrived in Sydney late on Thursday. Anti-war protesters who accuse him of being one of the main architects of the unpopular Iraq war scuffled briefly with police on Thursday and Friday.

A total of 11 people were arrested but his visit was otherwise uneventful.

Cheney’s health has also been a concern in the past, with the vice president having a history of heart trouble.

(Additional reporting by Will Burgess and Paul Tait in Sydney; and Koh Gui Qing in Singapore)

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