Plane trouble forces Romney onto different flight

Mitt Romney. AFP FILE PHOTO

Richmond, Virginia – Mitt Romney’s campaign plane experienced problems before take-off Saturday, forcing the Republican presidential nominee and his entourage to secure another flight home to Massachusetts.

Romney was in Richmond, Virginia making a campaign stop at a NASCAR race. He and campaign staff as well as reporters traveling with the candidate boarded the plane, but the flight was delayed due to unspecified problems with the aircraft.

Romney senior adviser Kevin Madden told reporters that the team eventually secured another plane and that it would be wheels up by approximately midnight (0400 GMT Sunday).

The campaign unveiled the white and blue MD-83 passenger jet, which has Romney’s website and the slogan “Believe in America” emblazoned on the side, on August 31, one day after Romney became his party’s nominee to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Two days prior to the Republican’s nomination, a CBS News reporter found a loaded gun belonging to his US Secret Service detail unattended in the bathroom of Romney’s charter plane on a flight from Tampa, Florida, to Indianapolis, Indiana.

CBS said the reporter alerted a flight attendant about the weapon, and a Secret Service agent was informed and retrieved it.