In a deja vu moment, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plane broke down during his family vacation in Jamaica, the second time in a span of months after his flight hit a technical snag in India in September last year during the G20 Summit.
Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) says a challenger plane was sent to Jamaica this week to support Trudeau and his family, who had arrived in the Caribbean country on December 26, reported CTV News. "A maintenance issue on the CC-144 was discovered during an inspection of the aircraft on January 2, prior to the Prime Minister’s departure date,” wrote Andrée-Anne Poulin, a spokesperson for the federal department.
“A maintenance team and aircraft were then dispatched and returned the aircraft to serviceability on January 3. The aircraft remained in the area as a backup if necessary, and the Prime Minister was able to return on the original aircraft,” Poulin added. Both planes were CC-144 Challengers operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
A second Challenger plane was sent to Montego Bay from Ottawa on January 3 and landed back in Ottawa on January 4 at 9:17 pm (local time). Trudeau and his family, including his separated wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, departed Montego Bay on January 4 via Challenger flight CFC001 and landed in Ottawa at 8:56 pm (local time).
The plane that brought Trudeau to Jamaica and the one that brought the maintenance crew to Jamaica are two of the military's newer Challenger aircraft, acquired in 2020, CBC News reported.
'Technical snag' in Trudeau's flight in India
This is not the first time Trudeau's plane has come across technical problems. As India hosted the successful G20 Summit in New Delhi on September, Trudeau was largely ignored by every world leader in the two-day summit. Trudeau's India trip was largely subdued and he was not even present at the G20 dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu. After he was reportedly snubbed by global leaders, Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said that Trudeau was "humiliated and trampled upon".
To make things worse, the plane that was supposed to pick up Trudeau and his delegation suffered a maintenance problem, involving a part that must be replaced, according to a statement by Canada's National Defence. "The safety of all passengers is critical to the RCAF and pre-flight safety checks are a regular part of all of our flight protocols," it said.
As a result, Trudeau's turbulent trip to India was further extended by two days, as a replacement aircraft was sent to pick him up. The part needed to fix the CC-150 Polaris plane was flown to India and the issue was resolved on September 12, green-lighting Trudeau's departure fro New Delhi.
According to government sources, the Centre had offered the services of Air India One, the fleet of Boeing 777s used by India's President, Vice-President and Prime Minister for their international trips. However, Trudeau declined the offer and chose to wait for his own plane.
This is apparently not the first time the 36-year-old CC-150 Polaris has faced technical issues. In 2016, the aircraft had to return to Ottawa 30 minutes after taking off with Trudeau, who was en route to Belgium to sign a trade deal.
In 2019, the plane crashed into a wall while beung towed and suffered significant damage, putting it out of service for 16 months. A backup plane was used to take Trudeau to the NATO summit in December 2019, however, it was also grounded in London when the air force discovered a problem with one of the engines.
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