Misleadingaircraft

“Air Force One is basically the President's private jet.”

Verdict: It is a private aircraft in the sense that no one else gets to book it. But 'Air Force One' is a radio call sign for any US Air Force plane carrying the President, the two current VC-25A jumbo jets are military aircraft flown by the 89th Airlift Wing, and they are hardened, self-contained flying command posts. The nearest civilian equivalent — a Boeing BBJ 747-8 — is a distant cousin.

The two VC-25As are heavily modified Boeing 747-200Bs delivered in 1990. They carry medical facilities, secure communications, electronic countermeasures, in-flight refuelling capability and shielding against electromagnetic pulse. Replacements — VC-25Bs based on the 747-8 — have been in conversion for years and are expected later this decade.

When the President boards a smaller aircraft, such as a C-32 (a military Boeing 757), that aircraft becomes Air Force One for the duration. A Marine Corps helicopter carrying the President is Marine One. The name follows the passenger, not the airframe.

What does resemble a private jet: a bedroom, an office, a conference room, a galley that can feed 100 people, and a spectacular lack of security queues. What doesn't: the fact that it belongs to the US Air Force, costs a reported $200,000-plus per flight hour to operate, and is designed to keep the government functioning during a nuclear war.

For genuinely private jumbo-jet living, look to the Boeing Business Jet 747-8s owned by Gulf royals — which, admittedly, also have bedrooms.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · af.mil

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