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Serbian president's plane plunges for 'eternity' before steadying

By Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE (Reuters) - An ageing Serbian government plane carrying the country's president tumbled through the air "for a whole two minutes" on Friday when an engine failed, tossing passengers around the cabin. The plane landed safely back in Belgrade, but President Tomislav Nikolic was forced to cancelled his official visit to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican. "I'll never step foot on that plane again," Stanislava Pak, a Nikolic adviser, told Reuters. Serbia's two official executive jets are notoriously prone to malfunction. The French-built Falcon 50 that Nikolic was using is 34 years old. The other, a Learjet 31A, was built in 1991. "I was told that one of the engines stopped working," Pak said. "We fell for a whole two minutes; it lasted for what seemed like an eternity. We were literally being thrown around the cabin." Pak said she did not know whether Nikolic planned to ever use the plane again. A second adviser who was also on the plane, Ivan Mrkic, told the Vecernje Novosti daily that he personally had experienced five incidents with the same aircraft. "We survived a real drama in the air and I can say that President Nikolic and his colleagues landed unhurt in Belgrade thanks only to the incredible composure and skill of the pilot and co-pilot," he was quoted as saying. (Writing by Matt Robinson Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)