Imagine you're on the streets of Manhattan on April 27th, 2009,
All of a sudden,
Air Force One is overhead lower to the ground than a plane should be and an F-16
fighter jet is chasing it!
Your first thought probably is not, "Oh Harrison Ford is making a sequel to his
classic 1997 action film
Air Force One." No, it's probably more like oh my god New York's under attack and
then you evacuate your building. Yeah, as it turns out this actually happened it
was because the White House wanted to capture new souvenir photos of the
president's airplane flying over the Statue of Liberty.
The incident was blamed on miscommunication between the White House
and New York City Hall.
But regardless of who's at fault, let's throw this tiny little fact at you...
It costs $50 per second to operate Air Force One.That's over
180,000 dollars per hour.
Well technically air force one isn't even a single plane,
it's actually the radio call name or any plane carrying the President of the
United States. For instance, when Gerald Ford was sworn in as President
the plane carrying Richard Nixon home was re-designated mid-flight to SAM
27000 because there was no longer and acting president on board. But for the most
part we've come to
understand Air Force One as one of two Boeing 747's the President frequently
travels in. While presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman had official
presidential air transport. It wasn't until John F Kennedy who first requested
a flying white house.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy even oversaw its blue and white interior
design. Now the twin 707's that Kennedy commissioned served the office of the
President until 1990 when the air force replaced them with a pair of
747 200B's used today.
Now even though the New York fly over incident in 2009 was annoying
it's not the first time the aircraft has been used for public relations. President's
often use the vehicle to impress other politicians. They even used to have
official Air Force One playing cards and candy to give to visitors, but despite
how much they like to show it off
many parts of the plane are off-limits to visitors for obvious reasons the Air
Force doesn't want to reveal too much about the craft's layout. Now here's what
we do know, like other 747's Air Force One has three levels, but it is equipped
to act as a traveling office for the president their staff, family, and the
White House press corps. It's interior has 4,000 square feet of floor space which
is about 12019 meters.
I counted. The lowest level is used for cargo space while the top level is
mostly comprised of the plane's advanced communications equipment
the middle level is where the passengers ride and this includes the President's
living quarters and office, as well as an exercise room.
Well there's also a conference room that doubles as a dining room.
The cockpit, a medical suite with an extensive pharmacy, office areas, quarters
for staff, the press area, and two gallleys
Wow! These hold as many as 2,000 meals and are capable of feeding up to 100
people at a time, which is perfect since the plane can carry up to 70 passengers
and 26 crew members. And let me tell you Jonathan, the President's ride is
pimped out more than anything exhibits ever worked on. It has four, count'em, four
General Electric CF680C2B1 jet engines that give it a top speed
between 630 and 700
miles per hour. With a full tank of 53,611 gallons of fuel.
This means air force one can fly halfway around the world out gassing up. Now
unlike other 747's, this one has retractable stairways and it's own
baggage loader, so it doesn't even require airport facilities.
Air Force One has numerous on board telephones, radios, televisions, computer
connections, and fax machines. Cool! Oh I know.
And you can bet that the Wi-Fi is a lot better than your last commercial
flight too. Now beyond that the planes advanced avionics and defenses are
classified, but it's definitely designed to withstand an air assault or jam enemy
radar or to eject flares to confuse heat-seeking missiles.
I mean maybe it even has awesome turrets like the Millennium Falcon so the
president can be all like pew pew pew on any incoming fighters you know
Ah a great! Don't get cocky boy! Pew pew pew pew
Yeah, probably not. But could the Millennium Falcon refuel mid-flight
because Air Force One can. In fact it can stay in the air indefinitely as long as
other planes keep bringing thousands of gallons of jet fuel to feed it. And Air
Force One isn't the only aircraft to accompany the President. Two C5 galaxy
planes tag along carrying limousines, Secret Service agents, and a special
ambulance. Also an advanced C141 starlifter cargo carrier flies ahead of
the President to deliver his or her motorcade.
Thank you for that.
All of these vehicles are maintained by the Presidential Airlift Group which
classifies every flight as a military mission.
All crew members are military personnel operating with high security even those
who prepare meals aboard Air Force One have to purchase the food undercover
from random locations. Now as awesome as these planes are the current 747 serving
the White House have been in operation since 1990 and it's about time for an
upgrade.
So the air force is planning on getting three new aircraft delivered for 2017
2019 and 2021 after a chance to bid for contracting Boeing is once again the
company commissioned to build the new planes and they're considering either a
747-8 for a 787 as models for the design. To keep up its reputation as a flying
base for one of the most powerful men or women and in the world
boeing better come up with something pretty swing for POTUS - right around in
maybe laser turrets. Pew pew pew! It's not gonna happen.