First lady Melania Trump’s plane returned to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning because of a “mechanical problem.”
Passengers saw a thin haze of smoke in the cabin and smelled something burning, according to a reporter traveling with the first lady.
The pool reporter noted that a member of the flight crew handed out washcloths for passengers to hold over their faces because of the smell.
The first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said more information would be released after the plane is checked. But she added that the problem was minor.
Trump had been planning to travel to Philadelphia to visit the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She was scheduled to make comments about neonatal abstinence syndrome.
A second aircraft carrying the first lady was expected to depart Joint Base Andrews just before 10 a.m., according to the pool reporter.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further comment regarding the incident.