Pilot aborts landing, pulls off dangerous stunt on Argentine $20 million presidential airplane
Shocking moment when pilot aborts landing 150 feet above airport runway and pulls dangerous stunt on $20 million Argentine presidential plane
- Argentina’s new presidential plane was involved in an “illogical” stunt on Thursday
- The plane was being flown from Miami to Buenos Aires by Leonardo Barone, the president’s logistics unit director, when he aborted landing at Jorge Newbery Airport
- A video shows Barone stopping before landing, rising rapidly, then swerving the plane to the left before flying around the city and landing
A senior member of Argentina’s presidential staff wanted to test their latest toy, and he may now be in hot water.
Leonardo Barone’s only job was to fly the new presidential plane from Miami to Bueno Aires when he changed plans and pulled a dangerous stunt at Jorge Newbery Airport on Thursday.
Video footage captured the moment when Barone was about 150 feet above the runway and about to land the $20 million Boeing 737-256 aircraft when he began to ascend and continue to move forward.
Barone, who is the director of presidential logistics, then tipped the white and sky blue plane to the left for a few seconds before re-erecting it as it headed for the La Plata River.
Still image cell phone video captured the shocking moment when a government official pulled a dangerous stunt and aborted the landing of the new presidential plane before the plane returned to the airport
He flew over the Plaza de Mayo, the oldest public square in the city, and Casa Rosada, the presidential mansion, before landing safely at Jorge Newbery Airport.
Aviation consultant Carlos Rinzelli criticized Barone’s daring stunt.
“The maneuver was quite illogical,” Rinzelli told the Argentine news network TN. “The plane should have landed on a normal approach at an airport that is congested and a day when the weather conditions are not the best.”
An armed forces source told the network that Barone had informed control towers of his plans to fly low over the runway before returning to land the plane.
“They eventually passed and veered dangerously low,” the source said.
Argentina’s presidential Boeing 373 veers left during a daring stunt by the director of the president’s logistics unit
Online news portal Infobae revealed that Barone also ignored instructions from the control tower and was told to keep the plane at 3,000 feet above the ground while they worked to clear another plane at the airport.
Barone was heard to say to the air traffic controller, “Ah, I understood it was free descent. We’ll keep it going… 700 meters.”
The control tower employee then snapped and told him he was never allowed to do that.
Barone then apologized and informed the controller that he had ascended to 3,000 feet.
President Alberto Fernández has not commented on the incident.