CAMPAIGN ’88 : Bush Press Planes in Trouble for 3rd Time

A chartered airliner carrying 48 reporters covering Vice President George Bush’s campaign aborted takeoff from Houston on Thursday when an engine overheated.

It was the third time in less than a week that trouble has occurred aboard airplanes chartered by the Bush campaign to carry members of the news media.

None of the reporters or five crew members aboard the United Airlines Boeing 737-300 were injured in the incident at Ellington Field, an old Air Force base now used for reserve units and NASA aircraft.

Engine Overheated

John Clark, 49, the pilot, told reporters that one engine had overheated and he decided to abort shortly before the plane reached the critical point of takeoff.

“The indicator lights showed the engine was hot, and we decided to abort at 60 knots,” he said.

Last Saturday, smoke appeared in the cabin of a Bush press plane in Columbus, Ohio, and on Monday, on a flight to Spokane, Wash., the same Boeing 727, chartered from Key Air, had to return to Chicago because the wing flaps would not retract. An FAA inspection after that incident led to the discovery of a 6-inch gash in the fuselage, incurred two days earlier, which the FAA said had been temporarily repaired.

The press refused to resume flying on the Key Air charter after the first two incidents.