Rubio's plane to Germany had to turn back due to a malfunction

A plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio suffered a mechanical malfunction and had to be diverted back to Joint Base Andrews Thursday night.

The secretary of state was en route to Munich, Germany, from Washington, D.C., spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

According to the spokeswoman, Rubio will continue his trip to Germany and the Middle East on a different plane.

The secretary of state plans to travel the Middle East for several days, visiting Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Rubio's travels come at a defining moment, just days before Hamas releases more hostages in Gaza and as a ceasefire is developing.

The mechanical problem with Rubio's plane comes within weeks of the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades, when an American Airlines plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with three people aboard collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport with no survivors.

The accident, which occurred on Jan. 29, is being thoroughly investigated by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), whose top officials are evaluating banning helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan National Airport because it is a complex route with a short runway, according to experts.

Two days after that accident, a Jet Rescue Air ambulance with six Mexican nationals on board crashed into several buildings in the city of Philadelphia. All six people on the crew were killed and the crash resulted in the death of another person who was not on the plane.

The Rubio plane incident also comes just days after another deadly plane crash at the Scottsdale, Ariz., airport, after the landing gear of a small jet failed. The incident left one dead and four injured, two seriously.