By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

A politically bumpy week in Washington ended for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, in like fashion during her plane ride home.

Once safely on the ground in Maine on Thursday night, Snowe and her 36 fellow passengers were informed the plane’s windshield had cracked.

The commercial United Express flight left Dulles Airport after an hour delay headed for the Portland Jetport, and experienced severe turbulence, said press secretary Antonia Ferrier.

Then, above Portland more than two hours later, the plane had to circle longer than normal apparently because of poor visibility and to give ground crews time to clear the landing strip.

After the plane touched down, Snowe noticed emergency vehicles speeding across the runway in her direction. As she got out, the plane was surrounded by flashing lights and TV crews. It was then she learned about the damaged windshield.

“Chalk that up as another experience under the belt,” Snowe e-mailed Ferrier at 8:45 p.m. after leaving the airport.

Snowe, who regularly flies home to Falmouth on weekends, usually has uneventful plane rides, Ferrier said, noting that the senator has never confided a similar experience.

A daylong storm dumped half a foot of wet snow in Portland with a slushy base. Snowe had tried to beat the storm before it worsened, Ferrier said.

Staffers from Snowe’s Portland office said Maine’s senior senator was composed after leaving the plane. They were relieved the damage didn’t affect the plane’s performance.

“I can tell you we are all very glad it was just a crack,” Ferrier said.

Jeff Schultes, airport manager, said he heard it was the outside portion of the double windshield that had cracked. No one at Trans States Airline, which operates the Portland-Washington flights, could be reached for comment Friday afternoon for details about the incident or the cause of the crack.

Despite the turbulence, Ferrier said Snowe reportedly praised the pilots’ handling of the plane and said no one in the cabin ever panicked.

Snowe’s flight home ended a disappointing week on Capitol Hill. The senator took issue with a number of reductions in President Bush’s proposed budget, including cuts in funding for the Small Business Administration, for warships built at Bath Iron Works and for heating assistance to the poor.