Obama plane diverted by emergency slide

ST. LOUIS, July 7 (UPI) -- Federal investigators say the inflation of an emergency slide caused presidential candidate Barack Obama to make an unscheduled landing in St. Louis Monday.

Obama's charter MD-81 diverted to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport when the crew began experiencing steering problems while on a flight from Chicago to North Carolina.

The plane landed safely with 48 passengers and crew on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was discovered that the inflatable emergency evacuation slide in the aft section of the plane deployed inside the tail cone shortly after takeoff from Chicago. While the tail cone didn't fly off the fuselage, the incident caused the elevator controls to feel unusually heavy to the crew and prompted the precautionary landing.