US President Donald Trump departed Washington for Texas on Wednesday aboard his Qatar-gifted Air Force One after an awkward incident in which an emergency evacuation slide was accidentally deployed — and had to be removed — just before he boarded.
The mishap occurred shortly before Trump was scheduled to fly to Dallas for the first-ever Republican midterm convention. Military personnel were responsible for accidentally triggering the slide, according to a person briefed on the matter. The deployment caused a brief delay to the president's departure, and the slide was seen being taken away before Trump boarded.
When a journalist on the scene asked Trump whether he was confident the aircraft was safe to fly, the president was characteristically blunt: "Yeah, I am, or I wouldn't be on it."
What We Know About the Qatar-Gifted Air Force One
The aircraft in question is a Boeing 747-8, which Trump began using on 1 July after accepting the plane as a gift from Qatar in 2025. An accelerated renovation program was undertaken to prepare the jumbo jet for presidential use ahead of that date.
The Boeing 747-8 is fitted with 12 emergency inflatable evacuation slides, which are designed to allow passengers to safely evacuate from a height of approximately nine metres. It is understood that one of those slides was the subject of Wednesday's accidental deployment.
The Air Force did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.
Upcoming Maintenance Planned for October
The slide incident adds to scrutiny surrounding the aircraft, which Trump himself flagged last week would be taken out of service in October for security upgrades. The president indicated those unspecified upgrades would take around 60 days to complete.
Despite the pre-departure drama, Trump's flight to Dallas proceeded, and the president showed no sign of hesitation about travelling on the plane. His matter-of-fact response to questions about safety was consistent with his broader confidence in the gifted aircraft since he began using it earlier this year.
