Bill Clinton and a small gaggle of press went to Africa this week for the former president's annual tour of the continent, but as usual, went on two separate planes. Though this wouldn't normally be a tech subject, the owner of Clinton's plane, Google, is.

Clinton was flown from the States to Ethiopia "on a 767 reportedly owned by several Google executives," according to an ABC News report. Of course, the unlucky press didn't get to enjoy a flight on the infamous Google party plane, which is normally -- and controversially -- stored at NASA's Moffett Field in Mountain View, where Google recently signed an extensive land-use deal.

The press were to fly on a separate charter, a 727 that broke down repeatedly in Newark, New Jersey -- "a broken air conditioner, a problem with the fuel tanks that led to an aborted take-off, a shattered cockpit window involving a small fire, [and] a broken fuel valve.

In order for the journalists to catch up with Clinton, an old Boeing 707 (owned by Bon Jovi) was brought from the Bahamas to Newark to ferry the press on to Addas Ababa, Ethiopia. After a single event there, the pair of planes -- Bon Jovi's 707 and Google's 767 -- again took off for a brief flight to Rwanda, or so they thought.

An hour after the 707 took off, it was called back to Addis Ababa: The Google party plane was broken.

"President Clinton's beautiful plane -- the one reporters had been so jealous of just days before -- is now grounded. Apparently as the 767 sped down the runway in Adas Ababa, the take off was aborted -- engine problems. Everyone on board is fine but the plane is not. Clinton will now join the press plane, which had to turn around mid-air to retrieve the grounded president."

Isn't that always the way it goes? You lend a friend your plane -- in this case former President of the United States Bill Clinton -- and they break it. I wonder how Larry and Sergey felt about not having use of their precious plane for a few days while it's stuck in Africa?

There is some good news for the Google founders: the ABC News story notes that a Clinton aide said Ethiopia is one of the top places in the world for repairing Boeing engines. What a relief.

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