At the end of a long journey home from the Philippines, Bartlet learns that an indicator light for the landing gear isn't lit up -- and so Air Force One circles above parts of Virginia and Tennessee while the President decides whether to recertify Colombia as an ally in the drug war. CJ and Will wrangle over who gets to distract the press, but the Air Force strike fighter shadowing the plane gives the press quite a bit to talk about. Will fights his non-fear of flying while CJ antagonizes the press by shutting off the phones in the press cabin. Meanwhile back on the ground, Josh works with a vulnerable House Republican whose seat is going to be challenged from the left and from the right, and Donna seeks something more important to do. Leo keeps the President up to date on a friendly fire incident in Kundu that killed five American soldiers, and fends off Margaret's questions about a possible hard landing for Air Force One, while Toby talks to his Congressman -- Black Caucus leader Mark Richardson who wants to reintroduce the draft.

Starring:

DULÉ HILL as Charlie Young
ALLISON JANNEY as C.J. Cregg
JOSHUA MALINA as Will Bailey
JANEL MOLONEY as Donna Moss
RICHARD SCHIFF as Toby Ziegler
JOHN SPENCER as Leo McGarry
BRADLEY WHITFORD as Josh Lyman
and MARTIN SHEEN as President Josiah Bartlet

CJ:  The copilot told us it was a problem on the ground.  We'll stay with that.

Will:  What are we going to tell them when they see an Air Force strike fighter out their window?

CJ:  That's going to take some thought.

Josh:  They're having a problem with their landing gear.

Donna:  I know.  I wrote the note.

Josh:  No, you wrote they're having a problem with their landing geek.

Toby:  I sent Will to the Philippines in my place.

Josh:  It's not like they're not gonna fix it.  You don't have to feel guilty--

Toby:  No, I meant Thank God I sent Will in my place.

CJ:  I screw with them all the time.  They're not going to buy it from me.

Will:  They're not going to buy it from anyone.  That plane's gonna be really close.

CJ:  It's not worth a try?  Look at me, look at my face -- It's not work a try?

Will:  "Look at me, look at my face"?

CJ:  Listen--

Will:  I'm going

Richardson:  I wasn't elected by the lives we're saving in Kundu.  I was elected by the lives that are doing the saving.

Toby:  But you agree there are moral imperatives.

Richardson:  Well, if there are moral imperatives, then you've got to tell me we're going to get everybody, beginning with the Saudis.

Margaret:  What does the foam do, exactly?

Leo:  On the runway?

Margaret:  Yeah.

Leo:  It's flame retardant.  They're worried about fire.

Margaret:  But it's not impact retardant though, is it?  I mean, the plane would still -- coming out of the sky at some velocity -- have to land on concrete.

Leo:  Well, the left's come full circle, hasn't it?  By the way, not for nothing, but draftees aren't nearly as well trained.  That's why there were so many casualties in Vietnam.

Toby:  Right.  Also the Vietcong.

Leo:  Plus that.

Will:  Well, if you have the rear wheels you can try a hard landing where you come down hard on the back wheels in an effort to whack the front into place.

CJ:  To whack it into place?

Will:  Yeah.

CJ:  I'm so happy I didn't have that information.

Will:  If you hit it wrong, the plane breaks in half.