Maybe some of you know it already. I can spend hours there! Great pictures, well categorised. I didn’t use to be into aircraft pictures, but this site has turned me into an addict!
And you learn a lot jus browsing around.
For example, did you know that there are actually TWO “Air Force One” planes?
Well, this Dutch boy didn’t! I thought it was one plane. And why are the AF1’s actually 747-200’s, despite being delivered in 1990, when the 400 was already in production for 2 years? Questions, questions!
This beauty is the C-17 Globemaster III. I get to work with it 5 days a week. Incidentally, Keiko the whale (Free Willy) was taken back to Iceland on one of our C-17s.
Yeah and my father was on one of them when Clinton stopped by in C Springs, CO…Saw a really cool documentary on PBS, if you get a chance to find it, check it out.
Okay, now I will say something…airplanes, Sept 11, Coldfire could you possibly have waited a few days? Don’t get me wrong, I may be overly sensitive to that subject (especially since I hate airplanes) but could you have possibly posted your post in notepad and waited till later to post that?
< I was already weepy, now I am just a big wuss >
( seriously, I don’t mean to make a big deal out of it but, my heart dropped when I read the title. )
< when will this end – the sensitive side of those of us that are fearful about these topics at this particular time? >
Techchick, to be honest with you, the combination of this thread and 9/11 hadn’t even crossed my mind. My gut feeling is “hey, planes will keep on flying”, but I see how someone could be somewhat offended by my timing. No offense was intended - it just didn’t register with me when I posted.
One morbid thing is that they have so many pictures of so many planes, that within an hour or so of a plane crash, they will have the pictures of the doomed aircraft up and linked off their front page. That’s often where the news channels get them from.
I saw President Bush leaving Andrews AF base this morning, in what appeared to be a 737 AF1. Is there an entire fleet? (And wouldn’t any plane the prez got on be labeled “1”? I.e., Army 1, Marine 1, etc?)
The Air France landing pic: Wouldn’t the people standing on the beach be blown away by wash? Is it possibly Photo-Shopped?
Hmmm…I did have a third question, but I can’t remember what it was now…
There are actually warning signs on the beach at St. Maarten. Some pictures show people running from the blast. The pictures are real, unless indicated otherwise. For example, the WTC picture with the guy in winter gear, 737 approaching in the background, is on there as well - clearly labeled as hoax. Trust me, the St. Maarten pics are real.
I’m not sure about Air Force One planes. Do a search on them, I’d say!
After today, I could give a rat’s behind if 9-11-01 was ever mentioned again. The media went way to far and I am reeling from morning to night coverage of something that happened a year ago.
But anyhow, seriously, if you can get a hold of the PBS documentary on Air Force One, it was really quite interesting. Not even the Pres knows which AF1 he’s on.
My dad’s buddy few in Vietnam with the current main AF1 pilot and had an exclusive tour of the plane Clinton flew in on for some occasion back when. He, my father, was not a fan of Clinton but with the back door treatment he was truly wowed by the trip.
He got some presidental stuff, M&Ms and matches from the tour…I still have a packet of “official presidental matches” I have kept in my collection.
I’m sorry if I seemed a little overly sensitive, it was stupid. I woke up in the morning with a completetly different resolve and even mentioned it over at Fathom if you are interested.
Well, I don’t know about that, since the registration (28000 or 29000) is right on that big honkin’ tail.
Joey G, I knew “Air Force One” means “the plane the President is on”. I was just amazed to find out that the Prez actually has two 747’s at his disposal. Seems like an expensive hobby, but hey, one needs a back-up plan, right?
Some nations do it a little more modestly, of course. For example, the Dutch royal family has to make do with this humble Fokker 70 (quit snickering in the back!), the pride and joy of the -now defunct- Dutch aviation industry. Not only that: she has to share it with the government! Queenie, can I have the plane this Saturday?
The registration is interesting: PH-KBX. PH is the Dutch code (no idea why we ended up with PH instead of NL, like on our cars!), and KBX stands for koningin Beatrix, queen Beatrix.
All kidding aside, you gotta love a country where big, nekkid boobies are painted on the tail of an F-16 paid with my tax money.
I’m afraid they went belly up in 1996, Johnny. The only remaining part that I know of is Fokker Aerospace, a research insititute that makes satellite bits for ESA. The aircraft industry was first bought by DASA (owned by Daimler Benz at the time), who sold the company entities for profit despite promises to the contrary.
Quite sad, really - one of the oldest plane manufacturers in the world, and one the stood at the very cradle of civil aviation. But I guess there’s no market for a small Dutch plane manufacturer, with competition like Airbus so closeby, and so competitive.
