Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama suffered a bit of a scare today when a chartered jet he was flying on was forced to make an unscheduled landing in St. Louis. The MD-80, flying from Chicago to Charlotte, was experiencing some loss of pitch control, according to Midwest Airlines, the plane’s operator.

Apparently, the plane’s emergency escape slide deployed while in flight. Even though it remained with the plane’s tail cone, it was enough to interfere with the pilot’s control of pitch and elevation.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) first called the event a “serious incident” before seemingly backtracking and characterizing the detour as “an uneventful precautionary landing.” Midwest Airlines, for its part, insisted “there was never an issue as to the safety of the flight.”

MD-80s are among the oldest jet aircraft still being used by commercial operators in the United States. In April of this year, concerns over wiring in the model’s wings forced massive flight cancellations stranding thousands of Delta and American Airlines passengers.

Obama’s Options

While Senator Obama was only temporarily grounded in St. Louis before another charter plane arrived to complete his journey, we think the incident might be an occasion to rethink his private travel options. After all, don’t people fly privately to avoid getting stuck on an MD-80?

Flush with fundraising cash, he might as well consider the whole ownership option. He might even be able to get a bargain on a gently used, pre-owned jet. Obama should head over to Halogen Guides Aircraft Marketplace for a look at what’s for sale. (We hear Yahoo’s Jerry Yang might be selling his Global Express.)

He could do well to buy a jet fraction, like Bombardier Flexjet. Or he could take a hint from his economic advisor, investment guru Warren Buffett, NetJets’ largest shareholder.

If Obama is able to maintain his current lead in the polls and triumph come November, he’ll be flying around on the taxpayers dime aboard Air Force One. In that case any plane fraction will probably be going to waste. For a short-term private jet travel solution, there’s always jet cards. He can either prepay for hours on a particular jet type like with Marquis Jet’s card, or if he needs to switch plane types (more room for the press corps perhaps?) he can use a card which debits based on cost, as with Sentient Jet.

But if he finds himself in a spot and needs to book a flight right away, on-demand charter is the only way to go. He can check out Virgin Charter for online booking from thousands of operators. Our advice? Just ignore the bids from Midwest Airlines.

So there’s no need for Obama to despair, he has plenty of options. For a more complete rundown we suggest he turn to our complete guide to private jet travel. We just hope that unlike some other unnamed presidential candidates, he doesn’t fly on his wife’s plane without paying the full cost.