File this in the ‘There’s always an aviation angle’ folder. There’s a leading indicator that will definitively tell the world if President Trump has decided to leave the Presidency. It’s his airplane.

His private 757-200 (N757AF) has been stored at Stewart Airport in upstate NY since 2019. If it’s going to fly as his personal plane again, it’s going to need maintenance. It was seen

I’m told that there has been a hunt for a single Rolls-Royce RB211 engine needed for one cycle, which is to say one takeoff and one landing for the 757. https://www.airliners.net/photo/Trump/Boeing-757-2J4/6082817?qsp=eJwtjbEKAjEQRP9laxsRPbguFpZq4Q8sm%2BEMxEvYXcHjuH83BrvhzWNmJSmz4%2BOPpYJGMrDKk3ZUWfllNK6kmJK5sqcyB/E35%2BZdh%2BMQLs2zon5eGonsCCKojvjnN43QXwWTPjm1i30L0HvPdDg1HpPVzH0DzinTtn0BQlIyEA%3D%3D

The one cycle in this case is a departure from Stewart to an earmarked MRO facility in Lake Charles, LA. The airplane has been largely dormant for a while and its systems and components are overdue for maintenance.

The tipster tells me that it wasn’t kept service ready because, well, the president “didn’t think he’d need it again for another four years.”

So, in short, when N757AF moves to maintenance in Louisiana, the airplane is being prepared to fly Trump as a private citizen.

Jan. 19 update: As of Monday evening a single RB211 engine for the Trump Organization’s Boeing 757 has not been located for the aircraft’s ferry flight to Lake Charles, LA. The aircraft remains at Stewart International north of NYC.

Further, something I had suspected initially but hadn’t confirmed: The refurbishment of the 757, when it finally happens, will take place at Citadel Completions. Citadel’s owner is the recently-deceased Sheldon Adelson, who was also the president’s largest single campaign donor.