Air Force One, the airplane designed and built to protect the president of the United States
of America, is a fortress.
Not only is it huge, it's packed full of high-tech security measures and luxury accommodations.
Here are some of the craziest features found on Air Force One.
Missiles are definitely a big concern for the staff of Air Force One because when the
president is in the sky, he's potentially a lot more vulnerable than he is on the ground.
But the good news for the president is that the designers of Air Force One thought about
that, so the plane comes equipped with lots of anti-missile technology.
According to Aviationist, it can jam infrared-guided missiles with "IRCM jammers" that emit a special
modulated infrared light.
It also has flares, which are extra-hot and will therefore mislead heat-seeking missiles.
Oh, and it has tech that can report and track a missile, too, which is kind of important.
"You like this better than your other plane?
I think so, right?"
All the missile imperviousness in the world won't do you any good if the whole country
explodes and takes you with it, so naturally Air Force One also has to be impervious to
a nuclear blast.
Air Force One is designed not just to detect and divert those very ordinary surface-to-air
missiles but also to survive in the air while nuclear bombs are incinerating everything
below.
According to Euro News, Air Force One is covered with armor that's capable of withstanding
an on-the-ground nuclear blast.
To guard against assassins with poor planning skills, Air Force One also comes equipped
with bulletproof windows.
According to Euronews, the windows are made from "bulletproof armored glass."
So add that up with all the aircraft's other safety features and even when he's in the
air, the president is probably safer than he is anywhere else in the world.
All of that plus peanuts that don't come in a half-ounce bag and a bathroom you can actually
turn around in.
It's good to be the president.
"Look, it's a nice plane."
In the event of a major world disaster, the president could theoretically just fly around
in the sky forever, or until the apocalypse is over, whichever comes first.
According to Popular Mechanics, Air Force One has the ability to refuel in midair, though
rumor has it that future incarnations may not have that feature — mostly because of
cost.
Also, if you think about it, there's really only so long you could keep up the indefinite-flying
thing — no matter how good your mechanics were on the ground, it may be tricky to keep
a plane airworthy when its been flying 24/7 for the last six years.
Not only is Air Force One super-safe, it's also super-fast — because time is money.
Lots and lots of money.
According to the Military Factory, Air Force One has a top speed of 629 miles per hour,
which at an altitude of 35,000 feet is roughly 30 miles per hour slower than the speed of
sound.
That sounds super-impressive until you hear that the average airliner cruises at about
575 miles per hour, so that extra 50 or so miles per hour really isn't doing a whole
lot for the president's schedule.
Air Force One also cruises higher than the average airliner — 45,000 feet instead of
30,000 feet, so you won't have to worry you might accidentally see it on your early morning
flight to London or anything.
And if you did, they've probably got some Men in Black-style memory tech on board so
you won't remember anything anyway.
In the 1997 movie Air Force One, terrorists somehow manage to get on board, and President
Harrison Ford gets hastily tossed into an escape pod that's meant to eject him from
the plane.
Then a bunch of other passengers escape out a parachute ramp.
This all makes perfectly logical Hollywood sense — because of course Air Force One
would have an emergency evacuation plan since it also has all that missile-deflecting stuff
and the bulletproof windows and whatnot.
"Get off my plane."
None of it is true, though.
Air Force One doesn't have a parachute ramp because according to CNN, the huge aircraft
generates a slipstream that makes it impossible to actually use a parachute.
There's no escape pod, either.
"Everyone wants to know, is there a pod or not?...
a pod?"
If there ever was trouble on Air Force One, the president would have to crash just like
normal people would on a doomed airliner.
So in that way, at least, everyone is equal.
"You know what, there are a couple of secrets, I don't think we're supposed to be talking
about that."
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