Twice in the last month, I’ve seen the big Marine One helicopters flying around. Once I was sitting at the Jefferson memorial and I saw two of them fly from the north two, I’m pretty sure, the State Department. Does Hillary fly around in them? Then, my wife and I were kayaking on the Potomac, and they flew over a couple of times, in twos and threes.
I’ve heard that when you see two, it’s the President. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m guessing it’s not universally true. I’m sure the President always has multiple but just because you see multiple helicopters, it doesn’t mean that it’s the President.
Not sure of the answer, but the Marine pilots do conduct a lot of training with no VIPs on board, practicing touch-and-goes on the White House lawn.
I saw a cable-TV show about six months ago detailing the training they go through.
Also, I was in D.C. back in May, and watched a single Marine helicopter doing the same route back-and-forth all afternoon over the Mall, going to and from the White House. I figured it was being used for training runs.
The UH-3 and UH-60 helicopter designs, on which the presidential helicopters are variations, have many missions in the armed forces. The UH-3 is largely obsolete; it was designed for anti-submarine work, and is primarily a search-and-rescue vehicle now. The UH-60 was introduced as a tactical transport. Both are used for VIP transport, especially the -60, which is smaller, faster, and more agile. Both are scheduled for replacement, as soon as a new design is available (a request for information went out in February).