Opinion: Sarah Palin’s plane: Air Moose One?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

On Friday morning in St. Louis, Sarah Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, showed up at Lambert Field toting moose antlers -- not the usual sort of carry-on you see on a campaign plane.

It was unclear where the headgear formerly belonging to a moose was stowed on the day’s first flight, to Dallas, where Palin attended a fundraiser. But later, as the plane began its descent into San Antonio for her second stop of the day, the mystery was solved, thanks to the federal regulations that require the curtains separating the cabins be open at takeoff and landing.

The door to the pilots’ cabin was open, as well, allowing an observer in the press cabin to note that the antlers had been placed -- macho style -- on the plane’s dashboard of the plane.

Well before landing, the captain removed the antlers and gently placed them on the floor between him and his first officer.

A few hours later, the antlers were back on the dashboard, leading the way to Denver.

Turns out that Heath had schlepped them from Wasilla, Alaska, for his daughter to sign. They belong to a family friend, who wanted the autograph as a memento of her meteoric rise. They will not be a permanent fixture on Palin’s plane.

And for non-hunters out there, the moose whose head the antlers once adorned lost them the old fashioned way: they were shed.

-- Robin Abcarian