Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was aboard a Coast Guard jet Wednesday when one of the aircraft’s engines failed, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The C-37A landed safely, and none of the people aboard were reported injured.
“The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine,” Mullin said in a post on X. “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.”
The pilot alerted air traffic controllers that the aircraft had lost its right engine and requested an immediate landing at Reagan National.
“We just lost our right engine and would like to declare an emergency and immediate landing at DCA,” the pilot told the tower, according to an audio recording of the communication obtained by CBS News.
The pilot reported that 14 people were aboard and that the aircraft had approximately 2.5 hours of fuel remaining. Airports Authority Fire and Rescue personnel inspected the plane after it landed, and the airport said it then moved off the runway.
The cause of the engine failure was not immediately clear.
The C-37A is the military version of the Gulfstream V routinely used to transport the DHS secretary and other senior Coast Guard and department officials. It entered Coast Guard service in 2002.
DHS warned in 2025 that the aircraft was suffering from aging avionics and communications systems. Coast Guard officials have argued that the plane is approaching or has exceeded its useful service life and needs to be replaced.
The initial request for roughly $50 million for a replacement aircraft eventually grew into plans to acquire two Gulfstream G700 aircraft at an estimated cost of roughly $172 million. Government procurement documents described the existing C-37A as 23 years old and cited increasing obsolescence and maintenance costs.
The incident also comes as the Senate Appropriations Committee is scrutinizing DHS’s expanding aircraft fleet. In an August letter to Mullin, committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) questioned the department’s acquisition of 12 aircraft, including five luxury jets used or being prepared for use by senior officials such as FBI Director Kash Patel and border czar Tom Homan. The senators argued that Congress never authorized DHS to purchase the aircraft and demanded records detailing the purchases, flight logs and costs associated with the planes.
For DHS however, Wednesday’s emergency adds another data point to the argument that the Coast Guard’s aging executive aircraft needs to be replaced, even as lawmakers continue to question the cost, necessity and manner in which the department is acquiring its newer jets.
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