I work near Atlantic City International Airport and, from time to time, see one of the Air Force Ones landing there. I don’t think the prez isn’t on it so its not technically AF1 at the time. I guess they’re just practicing. Anyway, lately I’ve seen another large jet (four engines but not anywhere near as a big as a 747) with United States of America written on the side doing what seem to be unusual approaches. It looks like he is going to land on one runway (4) and then banks pretty sharply at low altitude and appears to be changing his approach to 13. This involves a sharp left followed by what looks like a u-turn to the right. Are they practicing evasive maneuvers or something? It was pretty alarming the first time I saw it. Gear down, slow and banked over pretty good. And very low - I would guess less than 1500’, maybe only 1000’.
Could be a circle-to-land following an instrument approach.
Say the weather is low, but not super low, and you’re doing the ILS 31 approach into Atlantic City.
If you break out of the clouds prior to reaching 640’ above mean sea level (assuming a category D aircraft) you can then circle to land on a different runway. One reason you might want to do that is because the wind favors a different runway. If you circled to 13 you would turn right upon visual contact with the runway environment to fly parallel, then make a u-turn to land in the opposite direction from which you approached.
The flight was conducted to take publicity photos of Air Force One, flying low over Manhattan’s skyscrapers, for promotional material. Gates said in his letter that the flight also included a training component for pilots to practice instruments approaches and landings at Atlantic City Airport.
Seems they’ve done instrument approaches to AC airport before…
From the NY TIMES:
Atlantic City Airport:
HIGHLIGHTS - The airport serves as an alternative runway for NASA space shuttles, and has been used for training pilots for Air Force One. It is also home to a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard and a Coast Guard air station, and shares the airport property with a Federal Aviation Administration technical center, one of the nation’s largest aviation laboratories. JOSEPH BERGER
Are you sure it had four engines but wasn’t a 747? All the other aircraft operated by the 89th Airlift Wing have two engines. The next largest are 757’s and 737’s.
If you’re wondering why you’d do a circling approach instead of just the instrument approach that is aligned with the runway you want to land on, there a few reasons. Sometimes due to terrain, airspace restrictions, or noise sensitive areas there might not be a straight in approach to the runway you want to land on. Alternatively there may be a straight in approach but it might not be as suitable as one of the other approaches. A couple of days ago I landed at an aerodrome where the straight in instrument approach requires you to make a decision to land or not at about 4 miles from the runway so you need at least 4 miles of visibility to land of it. If you do the non-aligned approach though, it takes you all the way to the middle of the airfield and only requires about 1.5 miles visibility. Once you get there you can stay close and circle for whatever is your preferred runway.
As I recall, the weather was good, maybe some scattered cumulus clouds. I’m 99% certain that it had 4 engines and I’m 100% certain that it wasn’t a 747. I saw this on two different days and both times thought, “Damn, he’s low to be turning like that” Low enough to easily read United States of America above the windows. I was standing in a parking lot 1.7 miles from the end of runway 4 and he was between me and the airport. I see jets landing here all the time and this is the only one I’ve ever see doing anything remotely like this. Looking at the airport on Google I see that 4 is 6000’ long. Would/could a large jet even try to land on a runway of that length given that the cross runway is 10,000’?
Yeah, but you practice these things when the weather is good so you’ll be able to do them when the weather is bad. When you’re learning to fly on instruments you wear a hood with a long curving brim that blocks your outside view. (You’ll also have an instructor along to watch for other aircraft and such.) If anything goes wrong, take the hood off and try again.
That’s the way they do it at your friendly neighborhood flight school. Don’t know if the Air Force does the same thing in multi-engine jets.
Having nothing to do with your inquiry, I do believe a plane is not Air Force One until the president is aboard.