Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's Coast Guard plane lost its right engine mid-flight Wednesday and made an emergency single-engine landing at Reagan National Airport, the latest aviation scare at one of the nation's busiest and most politically sensitive airfields.
The pilot of the C-37A Gulfstream V jet radioed air traffic control with a calm, clipped declaration: the right engine was gone, 14 people were on board, and she needed to land immediately. The Coast Guard aircraft touched down safely at Reagan National at 1:35 p.m. EDT, Breitbart reported, and airport fire and rescue crews inspected the plane on the ground.
No injuries were reported. Mullin, the former Oklahoma senator who now leads the Department of Homeland Security, had been returning from Georgia after a stop in New York City the day before. The cause of the engine failure has not been disclosed.
The pilot's transmission to air traffic control left little ambiguity about the urgency. The New York Post reported the exchange:
"We just lost our right engine. We'd like to declare an emergency and [request] immediate landing at DCA."
She followed with a second transmission: "We have 14 souls on board and 2.5 hours of fuel." The plane had enough fuel to stay aloft, but one working engine on a twin-engine jet demands an immediate approach. The pilot brought the Gulfstream down without incident.
Mullin posted on X after the landing, praising the crew's composure. Fox News reported his statement:
"The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single-engine landing feel routine. No panic, just straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands."
A first for the pilots, and, by Mullin's account, one they handled as if it were a training drill. A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment on the incident.
The C-37A that carried Mullin, designated C101, is no spring chicken. Fox News had previously reported that the aircraft was flagged last year by DHS as being over 20 years old and beyond its operational service life. What exactly that review entailed, whether it was a routine airworthiness audit, a maintenance overhaul, or something more serious, remains unclear, as does whether the plane was formally cleared for continued flight afterward.
That history raises an obvious question: why was the nation's homeland security chief flying on a jet the department's own reviewers had already singled out for age concerns? The answer may be straightforward, military and government aircraft routinely fly well past their original service-life projections with proper maintenance, but the engine failure gives the question a sharper edge.
Mullin, who took over the DHS portfolio from Kristi Noem, inherited a department that has faced intense operational tempo on everything from border enforcement to counterterrorism. The demands on the secretary's travel schedule are real, and so is the expectation that the aircraft carrying a Cabinet-level official will keep both engines running.
The incident also revives a spending controversy from Noem's tenure. While serving as DHS secretary, Noem acquired two brand-new Gulfstream G700 jets for the Coast Guard at a cost of up to $200 million, more than four times the original $50 million projection. Democrats on Capitol Hill made a show of the purchase, highlighting the planes' luxury features, including beds, to suggest the spending was excessive.
Whether those newer jets were available for Mullin's trip is not addressed in any reporting on the incident. But the contrast is hard to miss: the department spent up to $200 million on top-of-the-line replacements while the sitting secretary flew on a decades-old airframe that had already been flagged for its age.
The broader security environment around Reagan National adds another layer. Newsmax noted that the airport has been the site of repeated aviation safety concerns, including the fatal January 2025 midair collision that killed 67 people and a more recent near-miss involving Marine One and a passenger jet. Mullin's emergency landing is the latest entry in a pattern that has put Reagan National's congested airspace under sustained scrutiny.
The administration has confronted security threats on multiple fronts this year, including a foiled drone attack plot targeting a White House event and the logistical demands of protecting the president at high-profile public venues. Keeping the DHS secretary safe in transit is part of the same obligation.
Several basic questions remain open. No one has said what caused the right engine to fail. The names of the Coast Guard pilots have not been released. The breakdown of the 14 people on board, how many were crew, staff, or security, has not been disclosed. And the specific purpose of Mullin's trip to Georgia has not been reported.
Just The News confirmed the engine failure occurred on September 2, 2026, and that the Coast Guard pilots said afterward that the single-engine landing was a first for them personally, a detail Mullin himself relayed in his post on X.
The administration has been focused on domestic priorities heading into the fall, and losing a Cabinet secretary to a preventable mechanical failure would have been a catastrophe no amount of crisis messaging could contain.
Credit belongs to the Coast Guard crew who brought everyone home. But the government owes taxpayers an answer on why the head of Homeland Security was riding in a plane the department itself had already questioned, and whether anyone plans to make sure it doesn't happen again.