Emergency Slide Deploys On Air Force One — Trump Insists It Was Intentional

Every so often we’ll see stories of the emergency slide deploying on commercial aircraft, and typically it happens because someone forgets to correctly disarm the emergency exit. Well, here’s an interesting twist on that.

President Trump’s flight from Joint Base Andrews on his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One was delayed because the emergency slide deployed. The thing is, Trump insists it wasn’t a mistake, but that they were just “checking” it.

Trump’s flight from Joint Base Andrews delayed over emergency slide

A little after 2PM today (Wednesday, September 9, 2026), Trump was supposed to fly out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the “new” Boeing 747-8 Air Force One that was gifted by Qatar. However, things didn’t go so smoothly, as he sat in Marine One for around 20 minutes upon arrival, before proceeding onto the tarmac, and eventually boarding the plane.

It wasn’t initially clear what was going on, but then the issue was hard to ignore, as the forward right emergency slide on the Boeing 747-8 had deployed. Now, one would assume that this was a mistake, and that someone just forgot to disarm the exit.

However, when asked about it by media, Trump brushed it off, and suggested it was routine. As he approached media, he said “they’re checking the slide over here, and I think it’s going to take 15 minutes.”

He was then asked by a reporter if there was a security concern with the plane, to which he responded “no, they were checking before, and they just wanted to make sure, so they’ve, I guess they already put it up, they just wanted to make sure everything works perfectly.”

This slide deployment had to be a mistake, right?

There are absolutely situations where aircraft emergency slides are inspected, to make sure they work. It’s part of a heavy maintenance program, for one. However, one would certainly assume this work isn’t performed right as the president arrives to take a flight, right?

Is there any explanation I’m not thinking of here, other than that someone just forgot to disarm the forward right door? Is there any situation where they just casually deploy an emergency slide minutes before departure, to “check” it

Speaking of which, does anyone know why the forward right door of the Boeing 747-8 would even be opened? Is that used for catering or other provisions? Presumably in this case it wasn’t to sneak Trump on in a catering truck. 😉

But here’s the other question I’m curious about. Can slides really properly be restored to their initial position within 15 minutes, or did they somehow just get it back in there, and essentially “defer” this for the future, because they figured it wasn’t needed?

I know we have some tech ops folks who read OMAAT, so if anyone has any insights, I’d be fascinated to know. For the record, this isn’t intended to be political — I’ve frequently covered slide deployments on commercial planes, so it’s sort of noteworthy to see that this could also happen on Air Force One.

I just wish that Trump wouldn’t outright lie and make stuff up, rather than just being honest. What’s the shame in saying “yeah, a mistake was made, but it doesn’t pose any safety issues, so hopefully it’s fixed soon” (assuming my understanding is correct).

Bottom line

Air Force One had a delayed departure out of Joint Base Andrews today, as one of the Boeing 747-8’s emergency slides deployed just minutes before departure. Trump insists they were just “checking” the slide, but that’s not typically how that goes, unless I’m missing something.

What do you make of this Air Force One slide deployment?