Inside the Air Force first as the new era attracts for the presidential plane

Most journalists traveling with the US president do not see most of the Air Force interior, the first, presidential aircraft.

The press -kabin is in the back of the plane, available by the rear set of steps and a quick corner turn.

To get to the presidential set in the front of the plane, you will need negotiations with agents armed secret services at the next door.

On the trip, Donald Trump in the Middle East this week, when the future of the famous plane became a huge conversation, Leading Fox News, Sean Haniti, had a priority place to sit and access the president to interview.

But the rest of us in the travel pool were sent to our small section of the aircraft.

It was a whirlwind trip that hit three nights, half the world. The President called it a “test of endurance” – the one to which he had to manage his staff and those who are in the press pool.

The presidential plane, however, is not a bad way to fly. 14 seats are convenient, approximately on one level with the first class of internal flight.

There is a bathroom and a table with snacks (including cherished naval forces that have one brand M&M, which contains the presidential signature that are not available anywhere else).

The cabin has a pair of television monitors – usually set to the prevailing presidential cable (CNN during the term Joe Biden; Fox News for Trump). Sometimes they were put into a football game or other sports events.

For longer flights aboard the kitchen fall covered dishes (the president eats from another, more fantastic menu). On a short hops usually have food in the exit bag.

But the interior of this famous aircraft may soon be radical refurbishment, if it looks like Trump accepts a Qatar’s proposal to put a new “palace in the sky” – the largest foreign gift that the US president received.

Technically, the “Air Force One” is a sign of the radio call, the designation of any aircraft with the US president on board. A small aircraft Lindon Baines Johnson drove from Austin to his Texas ranch in the 1960s, and was the Air Force.

But in the “air -air force” most people who participated in the Harrison Ford battle film are 747-200B with water in blue, steel and white paint, put against the chromed Underown – color scheme selected by the first lady Jackie Kennedy in 1962.

There are currently two of these 747 — in the Navy Passenger Air Force, which has been used since 1990. What to say, technology – both in the design of aircraft and in the rest – went a long way in the coming years. The aircraft were upgraded, but the cost of maintaining the air frame and engines grow. Aircraft show their age.

This is clearly annoyed by the current White House passenger – the only president who owned his own plane, or on this issue, his own airline before entering the post.

“I am now leaving and getting on a 42-year-old Boeing,” he said, exaggerating the age of the plane during a briefing on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. “But there are new ones.”

Comes but not soon for Trump. During his first term, he advertised an updated presidential plane made by Boeing, it was in the works. He even chose his own color palette, cutting out Kennedy’s design for red and white and blue liur. It proudly reflects the model of this plane in the oval office.

Initially, it was planned to deliver by 2021, delays and exceeding the cost of the $ 4 billion estimated construction program made less likely that two new orders would be available for Trump’s second term, ending in January 2029.

He set the task of Tech Multi-Blownaire Elon Musk accelerating the process and is reportedly privately snatched, ashamed to travel in such an outdated plane.

This explains why the president became interested in the prospect of seemingly more direct decision for aviation transport – the courtesy of the Persian Gulf of Qatar.

Last week, the news of Qatar’s offer about a lush $ 400 million 747-8, but the gift apparently works for months.

Trump visited the plane quietly in mid -February, just a few weeks after the start of the second term.

In addition to the legal and ethical problems of such a significant gift – raised by critics and some allies of the president – the transformation of foreign 747 for use by the US president creates a number of technical problems.

The aircraft must be made capable of flight and finalized with a complex communications and security equipment. Current models have systems built to withstand an electromagnetic impulse of the nuclear explosion.

Such a process of overestimation, says aviation analyst Richard Abelafia, director of aerodynamic consultation, will take at least 2030.

“They must assume that the plane was left unattended in a dangerous place for 13 years,” he says. “This means that it is not enough to analyze the plane. You also need to divorce each component.”

To launch new systems to launch its new systems, you will need additional power, and its interior may be rebuilt. Most likely, there is no press -kabin in the Flying Palace as originally designed.

Mark Consian, Senior Advisor to the Defense and Security Department of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the cost of such modernization can easily reach $ 1 billion.

It adds, however, that Trump may give up some or all security modifications if he chooses.

“He is the president,” he said.

If the Air Force eventually retires its current crop of the 747th years, it will make the planes that have been part of the fabric of American history for decades. Anyone who was transporting President Bill Clinton, together with former presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush at Israel at the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, George W. Bush went to the sky in the Air Force and stayed for hours, ejected in the air until his security team determined that he was safe to land and address the nation before returning to Washington.

Six US presidents traveled through these planes, crossing the US and visiting all the corners of the globe. One drove Biden to Israel just a few days after the October 7 attack.

Trump worked effectively as a company as a company, conducting political actions at airfields and conducting passages at a low speed before the crowds before planting and using the Air Force as a dramatic fund for their performances.

On the recent trip, Trump in the middle of the East military fighters from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE accompanied the Air Force when it flew through their national airspace.

Aging, although it may be, the Air Force -the most of the most recognizable features of the American presidential power and power in the world -a military aircraft that serves a higher purpose.

“It’s not done for luxury,” Aboulaf says. “It’s a Flying Command Post. You’re not there to get along parties.”

Additional reporting from Max Mazz