Oven Burns on Babbitt Flight

An oven caught fire today on a TWA flight to St. Louis carrying Democratic presidential candidate and former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, and the plane was forced to return to Omaha, officials said.

The plane landed routinely, said TWA spokesman Don Morrison. He said the problem with the oven, located in the galley and used to heat passengers’ food, occurred about 10 minutes into the flight. An unruffled Babbitt, waiting in Omaha airport for a later flight that would force cancellation of a campaign appearance, joked, “The only thing that’s changed for me is I have one less speech today.”