Interesting Week for Campaign Airplanes and the Media

Stephen Pope

Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 08:32 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The news media sensationalized two airplane incidents involving presidential campaigns, treating a routine missed approach for Air Force One similarly to a genuine emergency landing by Ann Romney's smoke-filled charter plane.
Media outlets, particularly LiveScience.com, demonstrated poor judgment by misinterpreting Mitt Romney's obvious joke about airplane windows not rolling down as a serious "gaffe."
This misinterpretation led to a detailed, unnecessary article explaining airplane mechanics, followed by a "red-faced clarification" acknowledging Romney was indeed joking.

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The news media this week made quite a lot out of two incidents involving airplanes on the presidential campaign trail, and in the process came off looking – well, kind of dumb.

The first episode happened when a charter flight between Omaha, Nebraska, and Santa Monica, California, carrying Ann Romney made an emergency landing in Denver after smoke filled the cockpit and cabin. The second happened when Air Force One initiated a missed approach in Ohio after the crew experienced turbulence on approach.