Presidential Transportation Options:

[ddeclue]

Fixed Wing Aircraft:

The United States Air Force 89th Airlift Wing located at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland right outside of the beltway in Washington D.C. operates a variety of aircraft for VIP missions including those of the President, Vice President, cabinet members and other dignitaries.

In the 89th AW fleet of aircraft they have:

Two VC25's - these are modified Boeing 747-200B aircraft customized to serve as the aircraft we normally associate with the term "Air Force One". Air Force One however is not any particular aircraft but rather any Air Force aircraft on which the President may be flying at any particular moment. These planes have intercontinental unrefueled range and supposedly can be refueled in flight. They replaced the Boeing 707's used by President's Kennedy through Bush in 1990.



They cruise somewhat faster than most commercial aircraft at about Mach 0.84 and have a maximum speed of just less than the speed of sound at Mach 0.92. They also are the least fuel efficient of the aircraft available for VIP missions due to their sheer size. They consume approximately 1 gallon of Jet-A per second of engine operation or approximately 22,000 lb of fuel per hour or about 3600 gallons an hour - at current commercial market costs this is about $12,000/hr in fuel costs.

A number of C40 A through C model "Clippers" are also available. These are modified Boeing 737-700 "Boeing Business Jet" aircraft also customized to be used as a VIP aircraft. A total of 19 were built for the US Gov't to haul military commanders and other VIP's around the world on missions and are operated by the US Air Force and US Navy.

Boeing originally intended to sell these to large corporations and the ultra wealthy.



A number of C32's - these are modified Boeing 757-200's - a total of 4 were built for the US Gov't to haul VIP's and this aircraft is actually preferable to the VC25 for shorter field operations because of superior performance characteristics.



4 C37's - these are customized Gulfstream V aircraft produced by Gulfstream in Savannah Georgia. These aircraft are capable of operating from even shorter fields than the C37's. These planes are actually the best performing of all their planes in terms of cruise speed, rate of climb, and service ceiling actually being able to reach 51,000 feet vs. only 45,000 feet for the VC25's.



At least 1 C20 - this is a Gulfstream IV aircraft, I would assume this is maintained as a backup aircraft given it is older.



Rotary Wing Aircraft:

In the vertical flight realm there are two different versions of Marine One available to the President:

VH3D which is a modified version of the Sikorsky SH3 Sea King Helicopter which has been flying in one version or another since 1959. This helicopter has a maximum speed of around 140 knots and probably cruises around 115 to 120 knots. It has a lower service ceiling than the UH60 but a longer range of approximately 540 nautical miles with a fuel consumption rate probably similar to that of the UH60 of around 150 gallons per hour - (it uses lower powered engines but their fuel efficiency is probably not as good which would tend to offset the smaller engines.)



or the much newer and somewhat faster (but smaller) VH60N which is a variant of the ubiquitous UH60 Blackhawk helicopter flown in large numbers by the Army but used by all branches of the military as the general replacement for the UH1 "Huey" helicopter made famous during the Vietnam War. This helicopter cruises around 150 knots with a maximum speed around 159 knots. This aircraft has a range of approximately 320 nautical miles and consumes approximately 150 gallons of Jet A per hour in normal operation.

(Note: A "knot" is a nautical mile per hour or about 1.15 statute miles per hour)

The President of course has the use of any military aircraft or naval or coast guard vessel he chooses to use or is forced out of necessity to use and Presidents have travelled by ship as Truman and Roosevelt did during their terms in office.



The President also has traditionally had a yacht available to him and maintained by the Navy for cruising up and down the Potomac River and Chesapeke Bay but I believe this was done away with under President Carter during the 1970's as an extravagance.



The only known case of a President traveling by commercial aircraft was when President Roosevelt used the famous Pan Am Clipper flying boat to travel to Casablanca in 1943 to meet with Churchill. It was felt at the time that this was the safest way for him to travel to the conference as German u-boats were still sinking allied ships in the Atlantic quite frequently but an air trip would have been out of the range of German fighter aircraft at that time.



Roosevelt was also the first president to travel by air while IN office.

Presidents used to take trains domestically beginning in the mid 19th century as being by far the most practical means of transport until air transport became reasonably safe and effective in the mid 1930's with the DC3 (C47) and Clipper Flying boats. The last really famous use of a train by a President was Truman's whistlestop tour during his re-election campaign in 1948.



Truman was also quite a frequent air traveler traveling to Europe, to Key West, to his family home in Missouri, and to the Pacific to meet with MacArthur during the Korean War amongst other notable trips.




The most recent use of a Presidential train was Obama's pre-inaugural trip to Washington (if we want to let this count...)

Prior to the invention of the automobile, presidents often also traveled on foot or on horseback or by horse drawn carriage for shorter trips. There are a number of photos of Lincoln on a horse from the Civil War that come to mind and Lincoln would ride to places like the Soldier's Home for disabled veterans from time to time on his own in the middle of the Civil War believe it or not.

The most recent images of a President riding a horse were probably those of Ronald Reagan who used to ride them at his ranch while on vacation in the 1980's.

Of course when automobiles became relatively safe and effective in the 1920's Presidents have used them as well as a means of transit - the most infamous being Kennedy's convertible in Dallas, the most recent being the super high tech armored "beast" that came into use in 2004 under President Bush.

The most interesting Presidential automobile however is FDR's in my opinion. Roosevelt due to his disability from Polio had several cars modified to operate using hand controls which he used when on retreats to Warm Springs Georgia.

Other means of Presidential "transportation" have included George Bush's recent use of bicycles for exercise purposes and his infamous Segway accident where he fell off of the gyroscopically stablized scooter because he apparently failed to turn it on.



Doug D.
Orlando, FL