# I just saw Air Force One **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171 "2017-04-24T22:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/1 "2017-04-24T22:25:51Z")
Driving across the Susquehanna River going East at 15.00 Eastern Time, we were treated to Air Force One doing touch-and-goes at the Harrisburg airport. I see the President will be holding a rally in Harrisburg on Saturday to counter-program the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. I suppose the crew was practicing. Mundane, pointless Stuff, that I must share. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/2 "2017-04-24T22:30:19Z")
For a second there, I thought you meant the movie. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/3 "2017-04-24T22:30:48Z")
Fun fact, it’s not technically Air Force one if the president isn’t on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/4 "2017-04-24T22:49:20Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > For a second there, I thought you meant the movie. When I read the headline I thought Trump was in Qatar ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/5 "2017-04-24T22:59:53Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > For a second there, I thought you meant the movie. You mean the shoes? We just had the shoes. > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Fun fact, it’s not technically Air Force one if the president isn’t on it. IIRC, _any_ plane the president is on is automatically Air Force 1. Trump was in Milwaukee (as a president) for the first time a few days ago. I was interested to see his motorcade. Working across the street from the airport (for the last 25 years), I’ve seen a lot of motorcades from a number of different presidents. I _assumed_ this one would be similar. They’re all a little different, but how different could it be, really? He had no motorcade. He was going to a place that’s about 45 minutes (by car, in traffic) away. So with the freeway shut down, that’s what, 30 minutes, tops. Air Force One lands, and off he goes in one of three, identical…Ospreys. So, now, I got these 3 Ospreys buzzing around, flying all low and stuff, HUGE crowd of people in my lot (always happens when a president is in town) and all I could think is…if I could just play Ride Of the Valkyries. Nothing political, it just felt right. As they came from overhead, and they were sooo loud and they make this bizarre sound. Also, I have to assume this was mostly for show. Like I said, every other president has used a traditional motorcade every time. Trump had three Ospreys take him from the airport to Snap-On Tools, then back. They also flew around for a little while. Also, on top of that, they Ospreys had been buzzing around Milwaukee for a few days before he even got here. To be honest, I didn’t think they were even for him because of that. It’s not like the motorcade practices their run ahead of time (at least not that blatantly). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/6 "2017-04-24T23:55:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Air Force One lands, and off he goes in one of three, identical…Ospreys. > > So, now, I got these 3 Ospreys buzzing around, flying all low and stuff, HUGE crowd of people in my lot (always happens when a president is in town) and all I could think is… All I could think of is a Secret Service agent calling out a game of three-card monty. “C’mon Mister Would-be Assassin, which Opsrey is he in? The one on the left? The one that was on the left that’s now in the middle?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/7 "2017-04-25T00:03:55Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Also, I have to assume this was mostly for show. Like I said, every other president has used a traditional motorcade every time. Trump had three Ospreys take him from the airport to Snap-On Tools, then back. They also flew around for a little while. Also, on top of that, they Ospreys had been buzzing around Milwaukee for a few days before he even got here. To be honest, I didn’t think they were even for him because of that. It’s not like the motorcade practices their run ahead of time (at least not that blatantly). I’ve seen Ospreys many times during the Obama presidency during his trips to Chicago and New York. Commonly two Ospreys accompanying a helicopter, which I assume was Marine 1. edit: Actually, I think there were also several helicopters, and I had the same reaction as **Spiderman**. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/8 "2017-04-25T00:07:52Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Driving across the Susquehanna River going East at 15.00 Eastern Time, we were treated to Air Force One doing touch-and-goes at the Harrisburg airport. I see the President will be holding a rally in Harrisburg on Saturday to counter-program the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. I suppose the crew was practicing. > > Mundane, pointless Stuff, that I must share. Were both airplanes there? There are two identical jets assigned for the President’s use, one is a backup in case of mechanical problems with the one the President is occupying at the time. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/9 "2017-04-25T00:30:31Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Fun fact, it’s not technically Air Force one if the president isn’t on it. Depending on which of the two VC-25’s it is, the 89th Airlift Wing uses the call sign of either SAM 28000 or SAM 29000 (Special Air Mission), or Venus plus a flight number. Yes, they do rehearsal flights to whatever degree practical, even if it’s halfway around the world. You won’t find any of them on a tracking website, for obvious enough reasons. They also get their radio clearances issued as “Cleared to destination”, not with the actual destination like anyone else. The two VC-25’s are about to be the last 747-200’s remaining in service anywhere in the world. The new 747-8’s are still a few years away. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/10 "2017-04-25T00:31:32Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > For a second there, I thought you meant the movie. Me too! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/11 "2017-04-25T00:50:11Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > For a second there, I thought you meant the movie. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Me too! “Get the hell off my airplane!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/12 "2017-04-25T02:19:33Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > IIRC, _any_ plane the president is on is automatically Air Force 1. Any United States Air Force aircraft that the POTUS is on is “Air Force One”. If it’s an Army aircraft (which would generally mean a helicopter) it would be “Army One”. (The Army no longer routinely operates Presidential aircraft, but they used to, so for example President Nixon sometimes rode on a helicopter designated “Army One”.) Nowadays, the Presidential helicopters are operated by the United States Marine Corps and are “Marine One” when the POTUS is actually on board. “Navy One” would be the call sign for a United States Navy aircraft with the President on board; when George W. Bush flew to an aircraft carrier after the invasion of Iraq, it was on a USN airplane, which was “Navy One” for the duration. If the President were ever on board a Coast Guard aircraft, it would be “Coast Guard One”. Finally, if the POTUS were riding on a U.S. civilian aircraft, it would be given the call sign “Executive One”. And if the Vice President is flying on board any of those various sorts of aircraft, they have the call signs “Air Force Two”, “Army Two”, “Marine Two”, “Navy Two”, “Coast Guard Two”, and “Executive Two”, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/13 "2017-04-25T02:33:03Z")
They practice at HIA all the time doing touch-and-gos, as the runway is rated for their weight, the pattern is never busy, and it’s a very short distance from D.C. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything Trump might be doing in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/14 "2017-04-25T03:12:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You mean the shoes? We just had the shoes. > IIRC, _any_ plane the president is on is automatically Air Force 1. This is a very common misconception–and I’m not talking about the “Air Force” part. The designation “X One” attaches to the person of the President, NOT to the plane. It’s commonly used _as if_ it belongs to the plane, but it doesn’t. > [@](#): > > Summoned to fly Nixon home to Orange County after the president resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, Albertazzie made sure to calculate the geographic point the plane was flying over – 13 miles southwest of Jefferson City, Mo. – when incoming President Gerald Ford finished taking the oath. > > Then, at the midpoint of the flight, Albertazzie radioed ground control to request a new call sign for the Boeing 707 that could be known as “Air Force One” only if an acting chief executive was aboard. > **[Ex-Air Force colonel was Nixon's pilot](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-aug-20-la-me-ralph-albertazzie-20110820-story.html)** > > Ralph Albertazzie's most memorable flight as President Richard Nixon's personal pilot on Air Force One was the final, history-making journey they took together. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/15 "2017-04-25T03:56:36Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > All I could think of is a Secret Service agent calling out a game of three-card monty. “C’mon Mister Would-be Assassin, which Opsrey is he in? The one on the left? The one that was on the left that’s now in the middle?” 😉 I’ve mentioned this before, but typically there’s multiple, identical, heavily tinted limos in the motorcade. Now, it’s my understanding that it’s so you don’t know which one the president is in. However, when the motorcade drives down the road and Bush The Younger has the window rolled down…kinda blows his cover. > [@Shmendrik](#): > > I’ve seen Ospreys many times during the Obama presidency during his trips to Chicago and New York. Commonly two Ospreys accompanying a helicopter, which I assume was Marine 1. > edit: Actually, I think there were also several helicopters, and I had the same reaction as **Spiderman**. I’ve never seen them before, not for a president anyways. I saw them (well, saw some) a few months back (before the election, so nothing to do with this), but that was it. The only helicopters we get during a presidential visit is a coast guard helicopter that flys around the area (maybe a 5 mile radius around the airport) about 2 minutes before AF1 lands and again before it takes off. I’ve always been told it’s checking out rooftops. As for the Ospreys, there’s been a lot of Air Force jets coming and going lately and I just sort of wrote it off as part of whatever has been going on at the Air Force base over the last week or 2. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/16 "2017-04-25T04:14:22Z")
Back when Clinton was President he came to Topeka. I didn’t go to see him, I was working. But the approach of Air Force One took him almost directly overhead of my workplace, and by then the plane was low enough to get a splendid view of it. Pretty cool actually. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/17 "2017-04-25T15:04:46Z")
I have a similar story. I saw Air Force One go very low over Cleveland, probably on approach to Cleveland Hopkins Intl. Airport, in late 2000 when Bill Clinton came to town. Impressive to see it like that. ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/18 "2017-04-25T20:40:23Z")
Mrs S. and I saw the plane, sans President Obama, when flying into Miami a few years ago, as well as the version housed at the Air Force museum in Dayton, which is a very cool place to visit if you were one of those kids who liked to make their model planes do jet noises. Very cool experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-air-force-one/785171/19 "2017-04-26T18:29:44Z")
Yes - definitely worth a visit: [Presidential Gallery](http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Presidential-Gallery/)