Video: Obama’s first official USAF flight

[cal04]

On Jan. 4, President-elect Obama arrived at Andrews Air Force Base “aboard a presidential aircraft for the first time as the principal passenger, as he moved to Washington from his home town of Chicago.” Although the Boeing 757 wasn’t officially designated Air Force One, it was painted like the presidential plane and “flight stewards and ground staff wore jackets embroidered with the Air Force One logo, and presidential seals decorated the plane’s interior.” National Geographic (via FlightBlogger) captured what happened on Obama’s first official USAF flight.

Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/19/video-obamas-first-official-usaf-flight/

The full documentary, Onboard Air Force One, will air Jan. 25 on the National Geographic Channel
starts at 8 pm.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/on-board/all/Overview

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Okay, how cool was that? And I'll probably get beat up for this, but the

pilot is HOT! Very handsome man.

[ddeclue]

2. The same squadron that is responsible for the two 747's

also has two 757's and a Gulfstream at their disposal for VIP missions.

Technically ANY Air Force plane the President boards is Air Force One - the call sign goes with the President, not the airplane.

When Richard Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford was sworn in, the plane took off as Air Force One and landed as SAM27000. (Special Air Mission and the tail number was 27000).

I think the 707 with the 27000 tail number ended up in the Reagan Presidential library finally. It was still being kept in the hangar with the 747's as far as I know through the end of Bill Clinton's Presidency based on the footage in the National Geographic documentary on Air Force one filmed a while back but they stopped flying it as far as I know near the end of Poppy Bush's administration.

I suppose it was being kept around for an emergency backup to the backup 747???

The helicopters used are known as Marine One. I don't know if the President ever flies an Army helicopter although I assume the big helicopters are Marine helos and the Blackhawks might be Army.

I don't know what would happen if the President ever had to use a commercial or private aircraft not piloted by a military pilot in some emergency situation - would THAT aircraft ALSO be designated Air Force One?

During World War II, FDR flew the Pan Am clipper to Casablanca and technically this was a civillian aircraft although it may have been commandeered by the Army Air Corps during the war.

The Air Force One call sign for a civilian aircraft scenario wasn't an issue then for two reasons:

1) The Air Force wasn't a separate military branch until 1947 anyways and it would have been "Air Air Corps One" or "Army Air Force One" at that point.

2) The call sign "Air Force One" didn't come about until the 1950's when some confusion between the President's plane and another almost caused a real problem and they adopted the AF1 call sign.

Doug D.

[xxqqqzme]

3. Interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAM_27000

[Ex Lurker]

4. Why not retire Air Force One and use a civilian aircraft like most other countries

it would send a good message that we're taking a step back from militarism.

[ddeclue]

5. It depends on the country..some countries use an airliner

others use military aircraft.

and it is pretty hard to run any country sitting in a commercial airliner. Hell it's pretty hard to run a business or even stay in touch with your friends. (Speaking as someone who just went over to England on a business trip in November...)

I don't fault the President for using AF1 but I would like to see them use the smaller planes on domestic trips if they aren't overnighters as a way to cut costs, save on fuel and cut down on global warming at least as far as setting an example goes. The 757's are about the same size (maybe a little bigger even) and fuel consumption as the old 707 was.

Doug D.

[PuppyBismark]

6. Because in the event of any problem, they need AF1's Capabilities

It is not militarism, but common sense. AF1 needs to be able to be a command post, needs to be able to evade bad guys in the sky and the ground, etc. Also, think about how much easier it would be for a bad guy to do something to the plane while it was in the civilian control.

Perhaps a new flight number, but America 1 & US Airways 1 are taken by the respective airlines. The whole flight number has to be unique.

[ddeclue]

8. Realistically there's not much you can do to even a commercial airliner

flying 500 miles an hour from the ground at 40,000 feet unless you have a SAM missile battery or a fighter squadron at your disposal. These terrorist guys aren'r really much of a threat as long as access to the plane is secure on the ground and the passengers and crew have been vetted.

Doug D.
Aerospace Engineer / Licensed Pilot

[lunatica]

7. We must protect our Presidents

And with Airforce One we not only do that but we make sure we have a Commander in Chief at every moment when and if he's needed.