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A federal safety report indicates an emergency landing by President Barack Obama's campaign plane last summer may have been caused by an inflated slide pressing against critical control cables.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Friday that a slide inside the tail cone of a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 chartered by the campaign inflated shortly after takeoff on July 7, 2008. An investigation found the slide and a broken walkway railing inside the tail cone may have pressed against elevator cables.
The report said that the plane's pilot struggled to level the aircraft's nose, which continued to point upward after takeoff, but regained control before making an emergency landing in St. Louis.
