Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced on social media that on the way back to the U.S. from NATO’s Defense Ministers meeting, Hegseth’s "plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield."

The pilot of a small single-engine plane is in the hospital after making an emergency landing in a field on Friday morning.

A plane carrying U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft's windshield, the Pentagon said, adding the Pentagon chief was safe.