# Air Force One crashes! What are your immediate suspictions? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645 "2013-05-06T20:12:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/21 "2013-05-07T06:17:46Z")
A little googling says the Air Force One is rarely escorted, if it’s any help. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/22 "2013-05-07T06:40:49Z")
Whatever the cause, the result is a catastrophic political failure: Biden is President, and runs for reelection in 2016, shutting out Hillary. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/23 "2013-05-07T07:54:05Z")
Didn’t essentially this exact scenario happen with Air France Flight 447 a couple years ago? Vanished over the Atlantic, no distress signals. It eventually turned out to be inconsistent instrument readings from iced pitot tubes that confused the pilots and caused them to stall the plane. Or something like that. AF447 would probably be the first thing that sprang to mind. Then something like a Lockerbie bombing. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/24 "2013-05-07T16:45:34Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > A little googling says the Air Force One is rarely escorted, if it’s any help. That’s why I didn’t mention escorts. I know that Air Force One is generally not ecorted while it’s flying over US airspace. And as a practical matter, they’re not going to let the president be anywhere near a country that might seriously launch a military strike against him. I figured they probably wouldn’t be escorting him over the open ocean far from land, at least not in peacetime. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/25 "2013-05-07T17:47:22Z")
I just showed a link of this thread to an airline pilot friend of mine and she says that there are a hundred technical faults that could lead to a plane crashing without any indication from aircrew. Unlikely in the case of Air Force One but not impossible. Something about the pilots being too busy trying to stabilize the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/26 "2013-05-07T17:50:58Z")
Islamic terrorists. Which, by the way, is what 95% of the people in the world would think (even if they said “mechanical failure”). ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/27 "2013-05-07T19:18:51Z")
I would absolutely believe mechanical failure until I heard some kind of evidence to the contrary. I always go for the least evil alternative first. Until reports started saying that there had been bombs at the Boston Marathon, I was holding on to the belief that it was some kind of gas explosion. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/28 "2013-05-07T19:27:32Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I just showed a link of this thread to an airline pilot friend of mine and she says that there are a hundred technical faults that could lead to a plane crashing without any indication from aircrew. Unlikely in the case of Air Force One but not impossible. Something about the pilots being too busy trying to stabilize the situation. On a normal airliner, sure. But Air Force One is in constant contact with the White House Signals Office, and I think that they could get an alert out while the pilots were busy. The second anything out of the ordinary happened the WH would know. Not to mention the other satellite communications gear the plane is carrying. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/29 "2013-05-07T19:41:33Z")
Sequestration. The regular crew was offered early retirement and the new crew didn’t take into account all the fat cats that surround the president. It was a weight and balance issue that brought the plane down. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/30 "2013-05-08T10:58:50Z")
If that happened, we should waterboard Donald Trump to either gain the truth on this incident or just for giggles. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/31 "2013-05-08T11:49:18Z")
My vote goes to a well placed bomb or some sort of catastrophic in-flight breakup of the plane. If I put my tinfoil hat on it would be that Pres. Obama is ditching the whole leader of the free world gig and running away to Kenya with Orly Taitz. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/32 "2013-05-10T04:50:20Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Islamic terrorists. > Which, by the way, is what 95% of the people in the world would think (even if they said “mechanical failure”). Are you including in that figure the 1.6 billion that are Muslims? How about the peoples that aren’t all that interested in US/Global political events, or might never become aware of AF1 not returning? ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/33 "2013-05-11T15:37:37Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > Are you including in that figure the 1.6 billion that are Muslims? How about the peoples that aren’t all that interested in US/Global political events, or might never become aware of AF1 not returning? I’m including all the people who know: a) Who Barry O is. b) 9/11-Iraq ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/34 "2013-05-11T15:43:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Catastrophic failure. Anything else is dubious, especially if the plane was lost mid-Atlantic. Any type of interception or missile would show up on radar tracks or give ample time for a warning to get out. What manner of interception radar do you think AF1 is equipped with, and just how long do you think they’d have time to think about a missile fired from the surface of the water? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/35 "2013-05-11T21:57:23Z")
On another thought, the two most scariest words in the English language: President Biden :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/36 "2013-05-11T22:33:46Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > On another thought, the two most scariest words in the English language: > President Biden > > :eek: Of the people who are scared of Joe Biden being President, how many do you think are happy with Barack Obama being President? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/37 "2013-05-11T22:39:12Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What manner of interception radar do you think AF1 is equipped with, and just how long do you think they’d have time to think about a missile fired from the surface of the water? In the middle of the ocean…good enough. They aren’t going to tell us the details, but it would take a ship-launched SAM like a [RIM-66 Standard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-66_Standard) to reach AF1 at cruising altitude, and they would have ample warning, in addition to time to scream for help. The only time you could get to the plane with near-zero warning to the pilots would be on take-off or landing, where there would be, needless to say, plenty of witnesses. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/38 "2013-05-12T04:50:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There was a book about this ca. 1970 that was made into a movie, called “The President’s Plane Is Missing”, although it crashed on land AND it turned out the president was not aboard. A double was, however, for reasons I can’t recall right now. I was dying to mention this book, and you beat me to the punch! I can see it was already answered, by **ElvisLives** but the plot was for the (real) President to negotiate with the Russians against “Red China”. I remember this book really well, I read it in 1980 or 1981, an old paper back of my dad’s. I was at most 12 at the time. The discovery of the cover-up hinged on finding an elevator shoe among the wreckage. I had to ask my parents about a number of things I didn’t understand, and the term “elevator shoes” was one of them. Personally I would be praying it wasn’t any kind of terrorists…9/11 and the fallout was bad enough, this would be a dreadful thing for the world. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/39 "2013-05-12T04:58:21Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > I would say fuel tank explosion, just like TWA 800 when it exploded over the Atlantic. > > Or, maybe, someone forgot to secure New Jersey Gov Chris Christie to his seat, similar to the 747 that crashed last week at Bagram Airfield. Gov Christie was chasing the food cart during initial climb to altitude Since no one gave you props yet, that was funny as hell. Back to the serious question, with the chase planes chances are we’d have some idea what happened. My immediate suspicion would be accident. Getting a bomb on board Air Force One successfully should be impossible, but I guess there’s human error even in the most secure systems. But that’s still less likely than an accident. The main reason I wouldn’t assume assassination is because it would probably be much easier to kill him the old-fashioned way than to try to sabotage his plane. But then you might say, “Yeah, but then it wouldn’t look like an accident!” Given how thorough an investigation would be of an Air Force One crash, it’s very unlikely that sabotage could be made to look like an accident. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645/40 "2013-05-12T22:24:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > On a normal airliner, sure. But Air Force One is in constant contact with the White House Signals Office, and I think that they could get an alert out while the pilots were busy. The second anything out of the ordinary happened the WH would know. Not to mention the other satellite communications gear the plane is carrying. Yeah, I’d be very suprised if the flight crew weren’t trained to get out an alert immediately if there was a problem with the plane, no matter how distracting the situation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-force-one-crashes-what-are-your-immediate-suspictions/657645.md?page=1)