Pete Hegseth's Plane Declares Emergency While Flying Over Atlantic Ocean... as Secretary of Defense Confirms Status Following Terrifying Incident
Pete Hegseth's flight made an emergency landing on the way back to Washington, D.C.
Oct. 15 2025, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been involved in a terrifying incident while flying over the Atlantic Ocean, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Hegseth, 45, confirmed his flight was forced to make an emergency landing at a Royal Air Force base in the UK while traveling overseas on Wednesday, October 15, due to a potentially dangerous crack in the aircraft's windshield.
Details Of The Emergency Situation
Hegseth's plane made an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Brussels.
President Donald Trump's defense secretary was flying on a Boeing C-32A plane, a military version of the Boeing 757, from Brussels back to Washington, D.C., after attending several NATO meetings.
About 30 minutes after takeoff, pilots were forced to declare an emergency when the issue was detected, and began their descent to 10,000 feet.
Flight tracking information reportedly revealed a "7700" Squawk code was issued during the flight, signaling a possible emergency on board. The codes are utilized by pilots to efficiently communicate with Air Traffic Control towers.
The pilots chose to divert the aircraft to RAF Mildenhall, a military base in Suffolk, England, which supports US Air Force operations despite its RAF name.
Hegseth Breaks Silence on Incident
The Boeing aircraft suffered a crack in its windshield.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted a statement about the emergency landing on X: "On the way back to the United States from NATO's Defense Ministers meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth's plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield.
"The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe."
Hegseth shared Parnell's post and confirmed he was safe in the caption: "All good. Thank God. Continue mission!"
It's unclear at this time how or when the aircraft suffered the crack in its windshield.
Hegseth confirmed the incident and reassured he was safe in a social media post.
Before the distressing incident on his flight home, Hegseth attended the defense meeting with NATO members and Ramstein, the Ukraine Defense Contract Group, which he had previously only met with via online meetings.
Hegseth encouraged NATO allies to purchase American-made weapons to support the Ukraine war under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, which was recently rolled out in an effort to keep a consistent supply of arms flowing to the war-torn country.
The defense secretary also issued an unusually harsh warning to Vladimir Putin and Russia about the ongoing Ukraine war.
Hegseth Sends Russia Warning on Ukraine War
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Hegseth warned the US and its allies would 'impost costs' on Russia unless they ended the Ukraine war.
Hegseth threatened the US and its allies would "impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression" against Ukraine unless the war ended soon.
Ukraine has been under attack from Russian troops since Putin ordered the unprovoked invasion in February 2022. While Trump and Putin recently met in Alaska with the intent of brokering a Ukraine-Russia peace deal, fighting has raged on.
Putin has continued to fan fears of a nuclear war by running elaborate military exercise drills.
The defense secretary said: "If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.
"Now is the time to end this tragic war, stop the needless bloodshed, and come to the peace table. This is not a war that started on President Trump's watch, but it will end on his watch."
