The report of Stéphane Dion's jet losing power from one of its generators last night had me remembering.
Flash back eight years to the 2000 election campaign.

Both the Stockwell Day and Jean Chrétien campaigns were using Boeing 737s very similar to Dion's. They were from Canadian Airlines, which was in the process of merging with Air Canada.

On the night of October 25 Chretien's plane lost power in one of its generators and made an unscheduled landing in Quebec City. Pictures from that night show the cabin in darkness as it came in to land.

Once on the ground, Chrétien came back to the reporters in his shirt sleeves and joked: "We decided to land on one wing."

A press gallery veteran called out "Does this count as a Prime Ministerial gaffe?"

Chretien responded "It's one more stop on the campaign."

He told some stories about hair-raising landings in his past and then everyone disembarked and waited for the Air Canada DC-9 that would take them on to Halifax.

A little over two weeks later, Stockwell Day's 737 landed in Fredericton to be greeted by the airport's fire service.
It turns out that something serious had happened inside the left engine.

Day joked: "You'll notice that it happened on the left." He went on to say that he once did a valve job on his 1972 Gremlin and he'd pop out and see what he could do here.

Politically both leaders exuded calm, standing in the aisle and talking questions.

Their aides tried to keep their best poker faces as they each tried to figure out if this mishap could turn into a campaign gaffe.

Footnote: By the way Day's plane which was 18 years old in the 2000 campaign lives on. It was lasted reported in the service of artic airline Canadian North.

— Chris Rands