U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's scheduled visit to Charlotte for a campaign stop this afternoon was postponed after the plane carrying the Democratic Party presidential candidate experienced mechanical problems.

Instead, the Illinois Senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spoke by telephone to a crowd gathered at James Martin Middle School in Charlotte's University City area. No new date has been announced for an Obama visit to Charlotte.

"I'm heartbroken that I won't get to see you today," Obama said by phone to the crowd of about 150 people gathered in the media center at Martin Middle School. "But I will get back to Charlotte."

Charlotte was to have been the first stop in a four-state trip to discuss the troubled U.S. economy.

In his 10-minute-long remarks to the group at Martin Middle School, Obama said he picked Charlotte as the starting point because it is an example of an area that has experienced strong economic growth "but is now experiencing tough economic times."

"Across North Carolina, people are concerned about jobs, as the economy has slowed down," Obama said. "People are worried and scared."

He touched on his long-term solutions, such as a new energy policy; and short-term solutions, including a tax rebate for middle-class citizens.

The crowd had gathered at Martin Middle School, expecting to see and hear Obama talk with what his campaign said were "working families." Obama also was scheduled to deliver a speech, outlining his plans to deal with the economy and criticizing the Bush administration and Republican presidential candidate John McCain's economic proposals.

But mechanical problems on the MD-80 Midwest Airlines charter prevented that. The plane experienced a problem keeping control over the angle of the nose of the craft. That problem developed as the plane was taking off from Chicago, the pilot said. The plane landed shortly before 11 a.m. in St. Louis, where mechanics tried to diagnose the problem. The crowd in Charlotte waited for about two hours, before Obama campaign officials decided to postpone the trip.

While waiting on the ground at the St. Louis airport, Obama briefly walked to the rear of the plane and talked with the media briefly. "I just thought we'd spice things up a little bit today."

After a while, Obama and several aides left the plane and went to a local hotel. Obama's staff told members of the media that he will speak today instead to an industrial group in Missouri. Obama had been scheduled to fly from Charlotte to Atlanta later this afternoon, to attend a pair of fund raising events. There is no word if the Atlanta trip will still take place.

The crowd gathered at Martin Middle School includes local Democratic Party officials, a number of other local dignitaries, and several dozen residents who were invited to attend.

Shortly before 12:30 p.m., Obama campaign workers brought bottled water and granola bars into the media center for the waiting crowd.

Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said the plane's pilot did not declare an emergency but "requested a diversion for mechanical issues they called a flight control problem."

The AP said passengers on the flight felt the plane dip briefly, causing a stomach-rolling sensation like a roller-coaster. About an hour after taking off, the AP said, reporters among the 44 passengers aboard the plane were made aware of the problem. A flight attendant told reporters that the plane was being diverted from Charlotte.

The pilot later told passengers, "We detected a little bit of controllability issue, in terms of our ability to control the aircraft in the pitch, which is the nose-up and nose-down mode. The autopilot and the aircraft are just fine. As we descended, whatever was inhibiting our ability now has been rectified. However, just for safety purposes, we are going to be stopping in St. Louis and making sure that there's nothing binding out controls."

During his visit with reporters on the plane, Obama shook his head "no" when asked if he was worried, the Associated Press said.

"Anytime a pilot says something's not working the way it's supposed to, then you make sure you tighten your seat belt," Obama said. "Everything seemed under control. The pilots knew what they were doing."

In today's visit to Charlotte, Obama was to talk with families about how they are dealing with economic problems, including the rising price of gasoline and food, and the credit crunch caused in large part by the large number of home foreclosures.

An advance text of his speech was made available to the media this morning, and Obama planned to criticize the Bush administration for its handling of the economy. And he planned to link presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain to Bush.

“As our world and our economy have changed, only Washington has stood still. The progress we made during the 1990s was quickly reversed by an administration with a single philosophy that is as old as it is misguided — reward not work, not success, but pure wealth,” the text of Obama's speech said.

Obama also planned to say that the Bush administration policies were skewed toward big corporations and multimillionaires.

He said that strategy has failed badly and that McCain offers “exactly what George Bush has done for the last eight years.”

Obama chided McCain for saying at one point that the country has made “great progress economically” under Bush. “He believes we're on the right track,” Obama said of McCain.

Obama also is scheduled to make stops this week in Virginia, Georgia and Ohio -- all key battleground areas this fall for Obama in his race against GOP presumptive candidate Sen. John McCain. Obama is expected to talk about his plans to deal with the economy.

McCain's campaign says the GOP nominee will jump-start the U.S. economy by providing strong help for small business. McCain says small business remains one area of the economy which is creating new jobs.

During an appearance on the ABC morning news program today, McCain aide Meg Whitman, a former eBay CEO, said McCain will "focus on, first, growing the economy which is all about small business. Seventy percent of new jobs created every year in the U.S. are by small businesses.

"And then, of course, we have to get government spending under control. The federal government is 58% bigger today than it was even eight years ago."

Observer staff writer Ann Doss Helms and The Associated Press contributed.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.