Former President Donald Trump’s personal Boeing 757 has taken to the skies again after five years on the ground. The aircraft took off from storage in Upstate New York on Monday, flying to Nashville for a brief stop before continuing to Chennault International near Lake Charles in Louisiana. It is believed to be undergoing maintenance work there before returning to service.

N757AF

Prior to becoming the 45^th President of the United States, Donald Trump made good use of a Boeing 757 private jet for personal transport. Registered N757AF, the aircraft is instantly recognizable with a giant T on the tail and the word Trump emblazoned on its side – certainly not an incognito way to get around.

But upon taking office, President Trump was required to fly in governmental aircraft, including the VC-25As that are frequently used as Air Force One. For a while, the aircraft continued to undertake flights for the Trump organization. But, in 2019, his 757 was parked in New York’s Stewart International Airport.

There it remained for the duration of his term, spotted with one of its engines missing and in need of repair. Word on the street was that N757AF required a new engine to be found in order to make the trip to Lake Charles for essential maintenance before it could return to active service.

Now, it seems that engine has been found, as the aircraft was spotted taking off from Stewart earlier this week.

First flight in 2 years for Trump’s 757

The aircraft took off from New York Stewart (SWF) at 12:25 ET on Monday. It appeared to be heading for Chennault International (CWF), and had been airborne for just over two hours when it appeared to make an unscheduled stop. As the aircraft was passing Nashville to the south, it abruptly turned to the north and began a loop around to head into Nashville International (BNA).

A snippet from Air Traffic Control suggested that the aircraft had declared an emergency, as Nashville stated, ‘it looks like we have an emergency inbound’. It landed safely at 13:40 CDT, two hours and 15 minutes after leaving Stewart.

Whatever that emergency was, it was clearly not too severe, as the 757 did not remain in Tennessee for very long. Just over an hour later, N757AF took off again, at 14:47 CDT. After an hour and 16 minutes in the air, it touched down at CWF. According to 7KPLC News, airport officials have confirmed that the 757 is there for maintenance, stating,

“The aircraft is being serviced at Chennault by one of our aviation tenants and is here for an undetermined amount of time.”

Trump has always maintained that his 757 would be brought back into service at some point. In a statement in May, he said,

“It will soon be brought to a Louisiana service facility for the completion of work, inspection and updating of Rolls-Royce engines, and a brand new paint job. When completed, it will be better than ever, and again used at upcoming rallies!”

With luck, we could see the 757 back in action relatively soon.