Marine One Forced to Make Emergency Landing with Trump, Melania
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump experienced a brief scare in the United Kingdom on Thursday when Marine One was forced to make an emergency landing due to a hydraulics issue.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the pilots landed “out of an abundance of caution” at a local airfield before reaching Stansted Airport. The Trumps then boarded a support helicopter and continued their journey safely.
What was supposed to be a quick 20-minute flight from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Chequers residence to Stansted took nearly 40 minutes. Still, the schedule moved forward without disruption.
A Second State Visit — and a $250 Billion Alliance
The precautionary landing came during Trump’s second state visit with King Charles III and Queen Camilla — an unusual honor underscoring the strength of America’s renewed relationship with Britain under Trump’s leadership.
Prime Minister Starmer praised the newly announced £250 billion U.S.-UK “tech-prosperity” investment deal as the most “natural partnership in the world.”
Trump began the day at Windsor Castle with King Charles before heading to Chequers for high-level talks with Starmer. After private meetings covering Ukraine, the Gaza conflict, energy, and free speech, the two leaders hosted business executives for a reception touting the historic agreement.
Trump: “Billions of Dollars of Opportunities”
President Trump called the deal a landmark step forward, creating “billions of dollars of opportunities” for American companies while expanding U.S. access to the UK’s world-class aerospace sector.
“We’re taking the next logical step with a historic agreement on science and technology partnerships,” Trump said. “This will create new government, academic, and private sector cooperation in areas such as AI, quantum computing, fusion, 6G, and civil nuclear energy.”
The president emphasized deregulation and innovation as the engines of progress, highlighting more than $350 billion in private sector deals already sparked by the accord. Headliners include a $136 billion investment from Blackstone and a major U.S.-UK nuclear energy project deploying modular reactors to power 1.5 million British homes.
“That’s $50 billion in economic value, 2,500 new jobs, and the energy both nations need to lead in AI and next-generation technology,” Trump added.
Securing the Future
Trump tied the announcement to a larger vision of Anglo-American leadership in science and industry — seven decades after British mathematician Alan Turing first pioneered artificial intelligence.
“This agreement will help America and our British allies dominate the future of artificial intelligence,” he said. “You need the energy — and we’re going to make sure we have it.”
A Presidential Return
After a whirlwind overseas trip that blended diplomacy, business, and vision, President Trump returned to the White House on Friday. The Marine One hiccup was only a footnote in a visit that may define the next chapter of U.S.-UK cooperation.