A Coast Guard jet carrying US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made an emergency landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday after losing its right engine.
The Gulfstream C-37A landed safely at about 1.35pm local time, with 14 people on board. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said the aircraft was checked by airport fire and rescue personnel before leaving the runway, and that there was no disruption to other flights.
In an exchange captured on air traffic control audio, the pilot told controllers: “We just lost our right engine and would like to declare an emergency and immediate landing at DCA.” The crew reported that the aircraft had about two and a half hours of fuel remaining.
Mr Mullin later said the Coast Guard pilots had made the single-engine landing appear routine.
“No panic, just straight professionalism,” he wrote on social media. “After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands.”
The incident comes amid renewed scrutiny of the busy airspace around the US capital, where commercial aircraft operate alongside military and government helicopters used by senior officials.
Safety concerns have been particularly acute since January 2025, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet near Reagan National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. A subsequent National Transportation Safety Board investigation found serious weaknesses in the design and oversight of Washington’s helicopter routes and air traffic procedures.
The emergency landing has also drawn attention to the age of the Coast Guard’s executive aircraft. The C-37A involved was placed in service on 11 May 2002, according to the Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security has previously acknowledged concerns about ageing avionics and communications systems.
Last year, the department sought to replace its executive aircraft, a move that attracted criticism from lawmakers who argued that the Coast Guard’s wider fleet, including aircraft used for search and rescue, also urgently required modernisation.
